By Katherine OetheimerÂ
Content Warning: This production, and therefore this article, contains sensitive material. Audience discretion is advised.
The Skidmore Theater Department’s Mainstage production this semester, Who Will Carry the Word, written by Charlotte Delbo and directed by Brooklyn-based artist Rebecca Marzalek-Kelly, tells the stories of 23 female French resistance fighters held captive in the barracks of Auschwitz. These women share their hopes, their dreams, their sorrows, and their fears with each other as they attempt to survive the hellish conditions inside the concentration camp.
Memories and stories play a central role in this play. In this most dire of situations, these women form incredibly strong bonds and fight to keep the strongest of them alive, to ensure that someone returns to tell the stories of what happened to them. But when it comes to actually telling these stories, many of the women wonder if people will ever really be able to understand what they experienced, if people will believe the atrocities committed inside Auschwitz.
This play deals with some heavy topics, and the show’s all-female cast does a fantastic job conveying the challenging material and putting on an incredibly powerful performance. And although the show takes place in a concentration camp, a circumstance most people cannot begin to imagine, the characters portrayed, their hopes, their worries, are relatable. In addition to the acting, the fantastic technical aspects of the show, the set, sound, lighting, and costume design, all work to make the stories told even more moving.
If you haven’t had a chance to see Who Will Carry the World, there are more performances this weekend, on October 27th, 28th, and 29th at 8 PM, and October 30th at 2 PM at the JKB Theater. Tickets can be purchased online on the theater department’s website.