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Rutka’s Notebook, a holocaust story recently named one of the 15 must see shows in the U.S. by the New York Times, has a Miami connection.
Rutka’s Notebook is based on the real-life diary of 14-year-old Rutka Laskier. She lived in the Jewish Ghetto in Bedzin, Poland in 1943. She and a non-Jewish friend conspired to hide the diary so that one day others could read of the horrors of the era.
Producers David B. Schwartz and Amy Langer of Think System Productions, who produced Broadway’s Spring Awakening and Indecent, grew up in Miami, meeting at Southwood Middle School in seventh grade and later graduating from the New World School of the Arts.
Schwartz and Langer will visit the Michael-Ann Russell JCC November 5, the Dave and Mary Alper JCC November 18, and the Miami Beach JCC November 19 and to talk about the musical, which opened in Cincinnati with the dream of finding a home on Broadway.
Langer says they first came across the diary in 2016.
“Once we read it, it jumped off the page,” she says.
Today, the story feels more relevant than ever, Schwartz says.
“Her writing was so visceral,” Schwartz says. “She was a teen, there was a boy she had a crush on, juxtaposed with all of these challenging things that were happening in the streets around her. It’s something we can relate to. Trying to maintain hope when the world is going mad around you.”
Even though the Holocaust was a grim time, Langer says Rutka’s words felt hopeful.
“She is a beacon of hope,” Langer says. “She refused to give up the idea that no matter how dark, she will have an impact.”
She believed her words would survive and she made sure of that by hiding the notebook with the help of a friend.
Schwartz and Langer optioned the rights to the story and commissioned the writers.
“And it’s been a journey from there,” Schwartz says.
While Rutka’s Notebook is similar to The Diary of Anne Frank, there are significant differences. Frank’s story took place in the Netherlands while Rutka’s took place in Poland.
“Anne Franks’s story took place in hiding,” Langer says. “These kids took place in the ghetto. How the surrounding impacted them. And how they try to rise up.”
Schwartz says, “It was the same historical event but with different perspective.”
There is one significant similarity. Anne Frank and Rutka were born on the exact same day.
Langer says they are excited to come home to bring the community into the process.
“Miami was so important to us and impactful for us growing up,” she says.
Schwartz agrees.
“Miami really formed us,” Schwartz says. “We have so many Miami people involved in the process and want to bring more Miami people into the project and into the piece.”
Eventually, they hope the musical will have a Broadway run and then go on to have a tremendous life in schools.
When the musical opened in Cincinnati, there were several Holocaust survivors in the audience.
“They came up to us after, saying you have to make sure more audiences get to see the show,” Schwartz says. “It inspired us.”
“There is an educational component to this,” Langer says. “This is a mission. It’s more than a show to us. We worked with the Holocaust and Humanity center. There were lobby displays and workshops. A lot of students hadn’t heard of the Holocaust.”
When creating the play, Schwartz and Langer needed to expand the story because the notebook was only 60 pages.
“It was important that were telling Rutka’s story with authenticity,” Schwartz says. “We had to do research. We went to Poland.”
They read everything they could find about what happened in that town. And they sought out those who knew Rutka.
“We are very close with Rutka’s half-sister,” Langer says. “Going there was educational for us.”
Schwartz says that helped them write the show.
“We went to the house,” he says. “We saw the stairs where Rutka hid the diary. It was powerful to be there. We toured Auschwitz and saw the area of Birkenau where she had been. It helped to form and inspire the work.”
The Holocaust was a dark period in our history, but Schwartz and Langer want audiences to come out of the play with hope in their hearts.
“We want audiences to feel activated and not devastated,” Schwartz says. “The composers, authors, the book writers have done an amazing job of bringing Rutka’s humor into it. This show and Rutka herself exemplify the fact there is still hope in the world. This piece can bring that message to audiences around the world. And it’s a really good show.”
Langer says the play also depicts coming of age, first love and all the universal aspects.
“Art is a living, breathing thing and it keeps evolving,” she says. “It’s really exciting.”
Both Schwartz and Langer laud the music, which they say is hauntingly beautiful. Rutka uses a contemporary indie-rock score.
For more information on the play, go to www.Rutkathemusical.com.
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