Reviews: What Do Critics Think of Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski, Starring David Strathairn?

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Playbill Universe Reviews: What Do Critics Think of Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski, Starring David Strathairn?

The Oscar nominee portrays the Polish WWII hero in a solo performance at Off-Broadway's Polonsky Shakespeare Center.

By Leah Putnam

September 16, 2022

David Strathairn in *Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski* Photo Courtesy Polonsky Shakespeare Center

Reviews are in for Theatre for a New Audience's production of Clark Young and Derek Goldman's Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski. The show, which began previews September 10, opened its New York premiere September 15 at Off-Broadway's Polonsky Shakespeare Center. Performances are set to run through October 9.

Oscar nominee David Strathairn (Nomadland, Nightmare Alley) portrays Jan Karski, a Polish resistance fighter, World War II hero, and Holocaust witness in the solo show.

Karski volunteered to cross Europe to bring news of the Warsaw ghetto and Nazi concentration camps to the Allied Nations in London, where he alerted British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden to the horrors, and the White House, where he spoke with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His reports, however, were received with skepticism and denial.

Read the reviews below.

The Daily Beast (Tim Teeman)

New York Theater (Jonathan Mandell)

New York Times (Alexis Soloski)

NY Sun (Elysa Gardner)

Vulture (Jackson McHenry)

Wall Street Journal (Charles Isherwood)

Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.

Remember This marks Strathairn's TFANA debut.

Goldman directs Remember This, which he developed at The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University. Karski earned his doctorate and taught at Georgetown for four decades following the war, and Goldman worked with Young on crafting a script almost entirely from Karski's words, informed by Karski's former students and colleagues. Remember This premiered in 2019 at Georgetown and then played runs in London, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

The creative team features scenic designer Misha Kachman, lighting designer Zach Blane, composer and sound designer Roc Lee, costume designer Ivania Stack, and movement director Emma Jaster.

For tickets and more information, visit TFANA.org.

Check out photos of the opening below.

Check Out Photos of the Opening Celebration of Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski

Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski_Off-Broadway_Opening Night_2022_Clark Young, David Strathairn, Derek Goldman, and Travis Emery Hackett_HR — Check Out Photos of the Opening Celebration of Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski

9 PHOTOS

Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski_Off-Broadway_Opening Night_2022_Jeffrey Horowitz — Jeffrey Horowitz

Travis Emery Hackett

Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski_Off-Broadway_Opening Night_2022_Derek Goldman, David Strathairn, Jeffrey Horowitz, and Clark Young_HR — Derek Goldman, David Strathairn, Jeffrey Horowitz, and Clark Young

Travis Emery Hackett

Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski_Off-Broadway_Opening Night_2022_Derek Goldman, Clark Young, Adrian Kubicki, and David Strathairn_HR — Derek Goldman, Clark Young, Adrian Kubicki, and David Strathairn

Travis Emery Hackett

Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski_Off-Broadway_Opening Night_2022_Derek Goldman, Adrian Kubicki, and David Strathairn_HR — Derek Goldman, Adrian Kubicki, and David Strathairn

Travis Emery Hackett

Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski_Off-Broadway_Opening Night_2022_David Strathairn_HR — David Strathairn

Travis Emery Hackett

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Check Out Photos of the Opening Celebration of Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski

Check Out Photos of the Opening Celebration of Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski

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