The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF)'s production of Hannah Senesh officially opens Off-Broadway October 23.

The play, based on the diaries and poems of the heroic young woman who sacrificed her life to save European Jews from the Holocaust, is performed in English, a rarity for NYTF. The piece plays Theatre Row through November 9. 

Starring Jennifer Apple, Hannah Senesh is a one-woman show that tells the true story of Senesh, one of many Jews who escaped from Hungary in 1939 to British Mandate Palestine. There, she joined the Haganah and volunteered for a Special Operations mission to parachute back into Europe to save Jews from Nazi hands, including her own mother. Senesh was ultimately caught by Nazi forces, tortured, and executed at the age of 22. Although familiar to scholars of the Holocaust, Senesh’s story is lesser-known within the general public.

The play, written and directed by David Schechter, was originally developed in collaboration with Lori Wilner in 1984. The script, adapted from Senesh’s diaries, was translated from the Hungarian by Marta Cohn and Peter Hay, and original music was composed and arranged by Steven Lutvak, with additional songs by Elizabeth Swados and David Schechter.

The creative team for this production includes set designer Court Watson, costume designer Isabelle Fields, sound designer Dan Moses Schreier, and lighting designer Vivien Leon.

For this production, NYTF has launched a special fundraising initiative to make tickets for available free of charge for students, both Jewish and non-Jewish. With incidents of anti-semitism, intolerance, and hatred rising at an alarming rate, NYTF is committed to providing up to 1,000 free student tickets.

Visit NYTF.org.

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Photos: Hannah Senesh Off-Broadway

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