This coming Sunday, March 1, at 2 p.m. in the Chapel, we will have the opportunity to encounter two men whose families came from opposite sides of WW II – Henrik Eger’s father was a Nazi propaganda officer. Bob Spitz’s mother was an Austrian Jew who rescued her husband from Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Read what Henrik Eger has written about Metronome Ticking:
“Set in Nazi Germany, Metronome Ticking is a brutally honest — yet uplifting — docudrama, the only play in which the harrowing experiences of an Austrian Holocaust survivor, fleeing across Europe, collide with the conflicting conscience and actions of a Third Reich War Correspondent and Propaganda Officer in occupied France.
“Consisting of original documents—Lily Spitz’s memoir and the letters written by Ernst-Alfred ("Alf") Eger to his wife, Gritt—Metronome Ticking is similar in structure to Peter Weiss’s The Investigation, but moves beyond the typical framework of a docudrama by integrating historical images and Nazi propaganda with the action, lending an almost film-like quality to the drama taking place on stage.
“Metronome Ticking looks at how people act and react to the many situations beyond their control, as witnessed by Alf’s vacillating stance—from militant and racist conqueror, enthusiastically supporting the Third Reich, to a reflective, self-doubting, and deeply conflicted human being—finally facing the horrors of an inhumane regime and its murderous ideology.
“At the end of the play, the juxtaposition of public statements from well-known, contemporary American figures links the voice of bigotry from the Third Reich with our own time. Metronome Ticking challenges everyone who sees it to reassess stereotyping of minorities, and inspires the audience to speak up proactively before marginalized groups get attacked again.”
Please join us for what promises to be a provocative and reflective program. Following Metronome Ticking you will have the opportunity to enjoy some refreshments and view the remarkable work of artist Reena Milner Brooks. Her work is inspired by a trip she took with her family to the Holocaust Memorial 20th Anniversary Commemoration.
Reena's mother is a Holocaust survivor, she was 15 years old in 1944, and survived some pretty horrible circumstances. Reena's father has been documenting his wife's story, what little she reveals to him, into a chronological history. Reena's mixed media monotypes, collages, and paintings are influenced and interpreted by these events. She incorporates texture and layering techniques by utilizing many common household objects either printed or collaged. A few of her pieces, using LIFE magazines from specific important dates of her mother's story, juxtaposes life in America and these events in her mother's life.
