‘Sheltered’ Shows Human Side Of WWII Rescuers At Alliance Theatre
Playwright Alix Sobler working with director Kimberly Senior during rehearsals for the Alliance Theatre’s production of “Sheltered.”
Courtesy of A’riel Tinter
What would you risk to potentially save the lives of people you’ve never met? That questions weighs upon the play “Sheltered,” at the Alliance Theatre.
It takes place in 1939 as war was breaking out in Europe and follows a Jewish couple from Philadelphia as they attempt to rescue 50 Jewish children from Austria as fascist control tightens its grip.
Playwright Alix Sobler of New York was awarded the theatre company’s Kendeda Prize, the Alliance’s long-running program to produce the works of Graduate playwrights. Broadway director Kimberly Senior is helming the production.
The play focuses on the internal struggles of the American couple — Evelyn and Leonard Kirsch — as they reckon with the task of separating children from their families. Though Leonard has run the bureaucratic gauntlet of securing the visas, the emotional labor of the job falls to Evelyn.
“In most of my research, the women are not talked about,” Alix tells City Lights host Lois Reitzes. “Anyone who has had a mother can tell you they are central to the life of any home. The stories of the rescuers, the women are very involved.”
“Women are incredibly courageous in these moments,” she says, “and I think that to be a mother in a war-torn country, you have no control to keep your child safe. That’s such a terrifying experience that parents go through. It becomes difficult to know whether you’re going to keep your child safe by keeping them close to you or sending them out into the world.”
“Those are the conversations that women have amongst each other that change lives.”
The Alliance Theatre’s production of “Sheltered” opens at Actor’s Express on March 1st and runs through the 25th. The “Sanctuary in the Arts” event takes place Wednesday, February 21 at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Rich Theatre at 7 p.m.
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