Sometimes you see things in print and it takes some time to realize the importance, the significance of what you have just read. I had that experience last weekend. The story, about an exhibit scheduled to open on our local college campus, provoked emotions so powerful that it took me a week to frame it within my experiences into some ideas to share with you. A caveat: this part of this week’s column is not about the arts, per se. It is about institutional hatred, man’s inhumanity to man, and survival against overwhelming odds. While those themes are often the fodder for theatrical expression, this story and this part of this week’s column are not about a play, but an exhibit that combines history, art and dramatic effect into a powerful experience for the viewer.
In 1998, we had the opportunity to travel abroad to see Christina, our former Swedish exchange student, get married. For all the joy and fond memories we brought with us from that occasion, our trip home also provided another type of lasting memory. We determined to return home via Amsterdam and take a day there to visit this marvelous Dutch city. While there, we decided to tour the Anne Frank home, which is a somber and devastating experience. Like many of you, we had read Anne’s diary and studied the history in secondary school. We had even seen the plays based on her writings and the writings of children headed to horrid, certain death in WW II concentration camps. None of that prepares you for being in the home of this family and witnessing first hand how cramped and difficult their lives must have been. Knowing how her life ended at Bergen-Belsen, made their attempted evasion of the Nazis even more heroic and tragic.
The rest of this week and through Aug. 23, a special international exhibit about Anne Frank and her family is on view at the Camden Center of Coastal Georgia Community College. It contains not only information about the trials the Frank family endured, but also remarkable photos taken during the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp and a display that recreates their secret hiding place of more than two years. If you have not been to the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C., this is a rare opportunity to remind yourself how deeply human depravity may reach, and also an opportunity to realize how significant our country’s role was in ending this intolerance. This exhibit allows us to plumb our souls and to ask ourselves hard questions about what we believe and what we are willing to do to secure our freedom. For exhibit times and group tour information, call (912) 510-3300.
On a lighter note, Camden County High School’s Drama Department is hosting “Camden’s Got Talent: Broadway Auditions” this Friday (8.18) at 7 p.m. at the high school auditorium. For a taste of what our county’s talented young performers have to offer in an evening of entertainment, make your plans to attend. Tickets will be available at the door; call (912) 729-7463 for more information.
Opportunities for this week and the future: on tap at the UNF Fine Arts Center this fall are retro swing kings Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (9.7); sexy and mesmerizing dancers from Parsons Dance Company (10.20); and the hilarious parody of musical theatre “Forbidden Broadway,” (11.17); lawyer David Sacks new play “Accidental Felon” produced by Players by the Sea performs through 9.19; the autobiographical musical of Jonathan Larson (the author of “Rent”) “Tick, Tick…Boom” runs through 9.19 at the Atlantic Theatre in Atlantic Beach.
If you have ideas or events you want me to share with readers, send me a note at pkraack1@tds.net.
8.16.06
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