By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Somehow it seemed bashert that when the one-woman play Renny's Story, which had been previewed on this web site, at last was produced, it had its world premiere on Saturday, May 6,  in the Swedenborgian Church in San Diego. Sweden was one of the few European countries permitted to remain neutral during World War II, and as a result, it was a place to which Jews could escape—as many from Nazi-occupied Denmark did.

Renny's Story is premised on the idea that escape, perhaps by concealment, might have been possible for the two-year-old son of Renny Grynblatt Trajman Kurshenbaum, from whom she was separated in Poland. Renny, today an octogenarian, had managed to elude death by posing as a Christian farm girl, so perhaps, somehow, whoever took her son for safekeeping might also have escaped the Nazis.  

Little Josef, who was given the Polish name Jurek, would be over 60 years old today, but Renny, too ill to travel from Chicago, hopes that if he is still alive, that she might yet be reunited with him. Everyone knows Renny's hope is a long shot at best, but her son, Dr. Howard Kurshenbaum of San Diego decided to commission a play based on his mother's story with the idea of showing videotaped snippets from it on her website, www.rennysstory.com.   

So playwright Janet Tiger wrote the drama, juxtaposing  Renny's Holocaust testimony with some humorous folk tales about the silly legendary people of Helm, thereby providing a new perspective on the absurdity of both the Helmites and the Holocaust.  

Diane Shea directed the hour-long play and actress Kimberly Kaplan gave a moving performance as the first on-stage Renny, which, though occasionally slow-paced, moved the audience both emotionally and 
                                                               
                                                               Diane Shea                                                    Janet Tiger
 
physically.  At one point, audience members  followed her directions to change seats, an illustration of how people have a tendency to comply with orders or requests, even when no guns are pointed at them.

Having read the script previously, I wondered how it would be brought to life on stage.  Kaplan, a talented actress who had modeled her Polish accent on Meryl Streep's performance in Sophie's Choice, worked with simple, but effective,  props designed by director Shea.  She wore a blue overcoat with the yellow Jewish star on it when reliving her experiences in the Warsaw Ghetto; and an apron and babuskha in her assumed identity as a Polish farm girl working as a domestic.  The rest of the time, she wore a flower print dress with a lace collar.  

The audience in 100 folding chairs in the Swedenborgian Church were appreciative of this labor of love and of hope, which potentially could have more far-reaching consequences than one family's possible reunification.  The monologue tells the story of how people who were able to stay out of the concentration camps survived, and provides us with a sense of how their constant fear of discovery played havoc with their emotions.  But it also gave  us some idea of the resoluteness with which European Jewry tried to stay alive.

With fewer and fewer survivors around each passing year to tell their personal stories, future generations will have to rely on stage productions as this to encounter survivors one-on-one.  Kurshenbaum presented Kaplan with a bouquet of flowers in appreciation of her performance, but he too deserves kudos for financing this project.

There were just two performances of this play today—one in the afternoon and one in the evening—but the chances are good that other audiences in the future will see it.  No matter what has happened to Joseph/ Jurek, through this medium, not only Renny's Story, but his, will live on.