The Paper Brigade – Di Papirene Brigade

The extraordinary story of the members of the Paper Brigade — poets, writers and people of spirit from the Vilna ghetto, who were ordered by the Nazis to sort the treasures of Jewish culture ahead of their planned destruction, and who chose to risk their lives to save them instead. At the center stand Abraham Sutzkever, Shmerke Kaczerginski and their friends — a group who understood that the fight for the books, the songs and the manuscripts was a fight for memory itself and for the very existence of Jewish culture. The play returns to the moments when, amid an impossible reality, some of the songs most closely identified with Vilna and the ghetto were written and born — "Under the Glow of the Sky's Stars," "Ponar," "Friling" and "Never Say This Is the Final Road" — and to the people behind the words. A new musical play linking the story of the Paper Brigade members to a young generation of singers and creators, graduates of the Rimon School of Music, who give the songs of that era and Yiddish song new life through original, contemporary melodies, under the musical direction of Ohad Hitman. They risked their lives to save the words. Now their words are returning to the stage. Cast: Michael Hanegbi, Yehonatan Rozen, Coral Anabel Lukatz, Itay Evron, Ariel Boinjo, Liam Forman, Lihi Yulzari, Nitai Yaniv, Maya Levy, Adi Arbel, Rotem Sharabi, Saar Alon Writing: Hadas Calderon and Oded Ehrlich Direction and artistic management: Hadas Calderon Musical consulting and project management: Ohad Hitman Musical direction: Itay Evron and Liam Forman Sound programming: Ariel Boinjo Yiddish language coaching: Sariel Yosef Movement design: Tom Applebaum Video design: Yaara Nirel Set design: Batya and Michael Fik Costume design: Ella Kolesnik Lighting design: Yair Salman Assistant director: Inbal Shalom Stage management: Asaf Rotem Theater CEO: Zelig Rabinovich With a donation from the A. Y. Lerner Fund In partnership with the Rimon School and the National Authority for Yiddish Culture