Five years after Newburyport's Anna Smulowitz Schutz stopped staging "Terezin: Children of the Holocaust," the production is still having an impact.
Schutz's original play, inspired by the stories of her parents and other concentration camp survivors during the Holocaust, played at schools and for organizations around Massachusetts for 10 years. It even traveled to Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp in Poland, where millions died during World War II.
While Schutz closed the run of "Terezin" in 2003, educators, administrators and lawmakers across the state have not forgotten it. They nominated Schutz for the North Shore Anti-Defamation League's 2008 Leadership Award for her work with "Terezin."
Schutz received the award yesterday morning at a breakfast at Kernwood Country Club in Salem. Several students who performed in "Terezin" during its run were on hand to honor Schutz.
"In terms of what it did for the schools," Schutz said, "teachers have told me that the most effective thing that taught the Holocaust, hate, discrimination, tolerance and peace is 'Terezin.'"
Schutz has continued working with teachers, administrators and officials to lead discussions with students on what she sees as the troubling issues of hate crimes, bullying and violence in their schools and communities. The groups, she said, have examined the possibility of "peaceable communities and schools" through understanding and respect for all people.
Cyberviolence, she said, is the latest form of hatred.
"It starts with simple hate and discrimination and ends in larger violent acts against large groups of people," Schutz said. "The topic is still hot, unfortunately. The play never loses its value."
Schutz has a master's in drama therapy from Lesley University in Cambridge and a master's in Jewish studies from Boston University. She was ordained by the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine, and serves as the chaplain at Brooksby Village in Peabody. She previously ran a drama school in Newburyport and has had a theater production company for many years.
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