A PLAYSCRIPTS TITLE

And a Child Shall Lead

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  4w, 4m

Michael Slade

This is the heroic and true story of children coming of age in Terezin, the “Jewish city” established by the Nazis near Prague as a way station before the death camps.

And a Child Shall Lead

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 4m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Docudrama/History
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Pre-Teen (Age 11-13), Teen (Age 14-18)

Details

Summary

This is the heroic and true story of children coming of age in Terezin, the “Jewish city” established by the Nazis near Prague as a way station before the death camps. In the face of unspeakable horror, these children use their determination and creativity to build lives filled with hope and beauty – playing, studying, making art, and writing an underground newspaper – all at the peril of being executed. Their actual poems and stories are woven into a fast-paced drama, evoking the universality of children caught in the insanity of war.

History

And a Child Shall Lead premiered in 2006 at the Bend Experimental Art Theatre (B.E.A.T.) in Bend, Oregon.

Keywords
Performing Groups

 Girls:
JANA HELLEROVA – 6 years old, always carries her doll, Anna. She doesn’t know this is not a normal childhood. 
ALENA LEDEROVA – 11 years old, she has a very dark side. 
GABRIELA WINTEROVA – 12 years old, plays the violin, loves music. 
EVA HELLEROVA – 14 years old, Jana’s sister. She has been forced to become mother to Jana. She often wishes she could stop being an “adult” and resume her own childhood. 
Boys: 
ERIK KOSEK – 8 years old. Idolizes Miroslav. 
MARTIN LOWY – 10 years old, the ‘new kid.‘ He comes from a wealthy Prague family. He doesn’t fit in on many levels. He loves to draw. 
PAVEL HOFFMAN – 14 years old, plays the recorder, loves music. 
MIROSLAV WEISS – 15 years old, charismatic, a natural leader and budding socialist. 
(Ages listed for characters are for the start of the play.)

The play was conceived to be performed by a multi-racial, multi-ethnic cast, as a reminder of the political atrocities children have fallen, and continue to fall, victim to throughout the world.

The play was conceived to be performed by a multi-racial, multi-ethnic cast, as a reminder of the political atrocities children have fallen, and continue to fall, victim to throughout the world.

  • Time Period 1940s/WWII
  • Setting

    Terezin Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 1942-1945.

  • Features Period Costumes
  • Additional Features Puppetry
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • Intense Adult Themes

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

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Authors

Michael Slade

Michael Slade
Michael Slade is a playwright, television writer and award-winning children's novelist. His plays and musicals have been produced in New York City at MCC, EST, the Lark, the Lambs, the Promenade, and the York Theatre among others, as well as in Los Angeles, various regional t ...
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