Photo Work Bas Jan Ader Dan Graham Gordon Matta-Clark Robert Smithson E"c O Varch 6 — 27, 1999 Children's letters to a Holocaust survivor form the basis of a play that comes to JET next week. David Klein Gallery 163 TOWNSEND BIRMINGHAM MI 48009 TELEPHONE 248.433.3700 FAX 248.433.3702 HOURS: MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY 1 1 - 5:30 YOUNG & OLD, EVERYONE'S IN LOVE WITH... I I-0 V E Y it YOU'RE PERFECT NOW CHANGE The Hit Musical Comedy GEM THEATRE 313-963-9800 333 Madison Ave. Detroit, MI 48226 Call Nicole for groups of 15 or more (313) 962-2913. EXTENDED THROUGH JUNE 27TH r 11 r SLAB FOR 2 $2 OFF BBQ CHICKEN FOR 2 $2 OFF Includes: 2 Potatoes, 2 Slaws and 2 Garlic Breads L • 1 aopon Per Order • Dine In or Carry-Out • Expires 3-18-99 3/5 1999 JN 70 Detroit Jewish News wgzitosrk , Includes: 2 Potatoes, 2 Slaws and 2 Garlic Breads L • 1 Coupon Per Order • One In or Cany-Ox • Expires 3-18-99 ORCHARD LAKE RD. SOUTH OF 14 • Farm. Hills • 851-7000 Raab, who was anxious to share her story with groups of schoolchildren. "I received over 1,000 letters from the s she goes about the every- children," she says. They wrote to me day mechanics of running a from England, Scotland, Germany thriving kosher poultry and all across the United States. I put business in Vineland, N.J., all [the letters] in albums and one day Esther Terner Raab's demanding I showed them to Richard." schedule seems to leave little time for Rashke believed the letters dissected dwelling on the horrors of her past. the soul of a survivor and portrayed However, like most Holocaust sur- the love, concern and outrage of the vivors, she's not likely to forget even children who were touched by Esther's the most minute of story. The impact of this Above: Jewish Ensemble details. Raab decided correspondence becomes Theatre artistic director years ago, after meeting not only visual, but pal- Evelyn Orbach takes the author and playwright pable, in Rashke's play role of Esther Terner Raab Dear Esther, Richard Rashke, to ded- coming to in JET's production of icate a part of her life to Jewish Ensemble "Dear Esther" Nicho s the children of the Theatre for five perfor- Calanni directs. world, "who must face mances March 10-11 the reality of the and March 13-14. Holocaust so that it will never happen Raab's nightmare began in 1939 again. when she was almost 17 years old and Rashke was conducting research at living with her parents and brother, the Library of Congress when he Idel, in Chelm near the Russian bor- stumbled upon a footnote about der. "My father was killed in the mar- Sobibor, a little-known death camp ketplace by the first SS unit that near the Russian border in what was invaded our town," says Raab. then a part of Ukraine. He discovered Idel and Esther were sent to work that the inmates of the camp had camps and their mother, who was left staged an uprising on Oct.14, 1943, behind, went to the police station and and liberated themselves. asked to be shot. "She gave up. She Subsequently, Rashke wrote a book did not have to suffer. She would have on the subject, titled Escape from been burned," says Raab. Sobibor, which was made into a televi- Idel managed to escape the work sion special and can be seen periodi- camp, but Esther was sent to Sobibor cally on the History Channel. where everyone in her group was killed, save seven girls and two boys. As a result of his interviews for the book, Rashke met and befriended After more than nine months, the LINDA BACHRACK Special to The jewish News JN egttletrpfC01- =. ci /