Theater Review: 'Letters to Sala' at Newtown High School

Review by Naugatuck Patch Mayor Nancy Sasso Janis

The students at Newtown High School have put together a heartbreakingly accurate production of a play called "Letters to Sala.” This was a new play for me, so I had no idea what a strongly drawn story I had been invited to experience with a few other senior citizens at the student’s final dress rehearsal.

This was a project that was completely student directed, with Sadie Baimel and Parker Mauri acting as co-directors. Newtown High Theater teacher Janice Gabriel, who is also a talented community theater performer, serves as the students' advisor.

The summary of the show notes that the two-act play was adapted from the book “Sala’s Gift,” written by Ann Kirschner and based on a true account.

“Letters to Sala” is “a remarkable story of a young (Jewish) girl’s survival during wartime Germany.” It covers five years, seven different labor camps and over 350 hidden letters.

The actual Sala Garncarz Kirschner kept her secret for over fifty years, concealing the letters that detailed her incredibly painful history in a Spill and Spell game box. Then everything changes when Sala reveals the cache of paper letters to her grown daughter, Ann.

The script draws from the emotional journeys that begin for both Ann and Sala when the letters see the light of day.

“Through scholarly research, Ann discovers that her mother has made a historically significant impact on Holocaust documentation. As Ann processes her own reaction to her mother’s story, her daughters, Caroline and Elisabeth, also realize for the first time the weight of their Jewish heritage.”

“Simultaneously, Ann’s study of the letters throws Sala into the past again. She relives her youth, recalling her naïve desire for adventure, the disillusionment of her life in the work camps, and her loss of communication with the outside world as the war progressed around her.”

The playwright Arlene Hutton “drives the two stories to a single question: What is to be done with these letters?”

We watch as the three generations of Kirschner women consider this conundrum. “If Sala risked her life to hold onto them as a young woman imprisoned in a work camp, are they merely the emotionally rich relics of her past life? Or are they worthy and important historical documents that demand to be shared with the public?”

“The world is moaning…”

The family ultimately work together to sift through the past and come to terms with the true gravity of Sala’s letters.

Ms. Gabriel shared that she and the cast members have been in contact with the playwright and Sala’s daughter who live in New York. There will be a performance for the student body that they both have been invited to attend and give a talk back following the show. This is such a wonderful opportunity for the students that study the Holocaust in their Language Arts freshman class.

The scenes move between Poland in 1941 and New York in 2005 and the set design helps to delineate the two eras. The show opens with the characters in each time period alternating lines, making it hard to know who is speaking. While it was very effective, I was relieved to see that this was only for a short part of the opening.

The Newtown cast works together very well to tell this story with fidelity. Grace Snowden “played hurt” to portray the adult Sala Garncarz; her laryngitis actually helped to age her up. Ella Renak has a lot to remember as she takes on the role of Young Sala, and she is seldom off stage.

Adien Ekman gives a strong performance as Sala’s grown daughter Ann, with Gabby DeNicola plays her daughter Caroline and Lia Battaglia as her daughter Elisabeth.

Maddie Britton plays both Chana and Lucia, Olivia Grasso plays Raizel (a sister of Sala,) and Victoria Rausch plays the character of Sala’s sister Blima, and Elfriede, a girl who works in a tailor shop. Corynn Hettenbach covers the roles of Sara, Gucia and Rozia. Michayl Wilford plays Bela and Rachel. Tegan Merchant portrays Frymka and Zusi.

Gaby Corona gives a memorable portrayal of Ala Gertner, a hopeful, older woman in the labor camp who takes Sala under her wing.

Sam Evans-Oquendo plays the shoemaker Chaim Kaufman and Sam Giuggio plays Harry Haubenstock. Josiah Riley plays the Nazi soldier Herbert Pache and Ashton Almeter tackles the role of an American soldier Sidney Kirschner who becomes Sala’s husband after the war ends.

The students playing the scary Nazi ensemble include Daniel Davydov, Jaxson Penna, Lukas Durrwachter, Theo Anderson, Alex Gilson and Talmage Bacon.

The technical aspects of the show functioned well at the dress rehearsal.

This is a heavy story, often hard to watch for the reminder of a terrible time in history. While the end of “The Diary of Anne Frank” usually draws a tear from my eye, this work contains many such scenes. The fact that Sala’s story is completely true makes it as touching as it is often bittersweet to watch. I congratulate the students on undertaking such a demanding piece of work.

Join the Newtown Drama students this week for one of their well-rehearsed performances that run Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:00 pm, closing on Sunday with the 2:00 pm show. The performances are held in the comfortable Newtown High School Auditorium and tickets may be purchased at the door.

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theater reviews since 2012 as a way to support local venues, and she posts well over 100 reviews each year. She became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle in 2016. Her contributions of theatrical reviews, previews, and audition notices are posted in the Naugatuck Patch as well as the Patch sites closest to the venue. She is also a feature writer and theater reviewer for the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. Her weekly column IN THE WINGS and theater reviews appear in the Thursday Weekend section of the newspaper.

Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theatre Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417 Check out the CCC Facebook page.