LOS ANGELES, Feb. 19, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acclaimed "Wiesenthal" playwright Tom Dugan encourages Passover observers to include a sunflower at the Seder table during Seder in remembrance of the Holocaust this April 14, 2014, because, according to Wiesenthal, "There is a saying in Judaism that by remembering the dead we keep them alive." Additional items or actions to commemorate the holocaust can include the following:
- Placing a Sunflower on your Seder table – Display a sunflower as a symbol of remembrance for yourself and guests at your Seder table for the lives of those lost during the Holocaust
- Adding an additional brief call and response – JewishBoston.com offers a somber supplement to the Seder
- Consider observing Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day remembers the approximately six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust and for the Jewish resistance in that period.
Says Tom Dugan, "It is my hope that this generation of Passover observers can establish a modern day tradition of bringing a sunflower to their tables as a symbolic gesture of remembering Holocaust."
The one-person-show "Wiesenthal," discusses the sunflower as a symbol of this remembrance. Says the character Wiesenthal, "The sunflower has a very special meaning to me…We passed a German cemetery and every grave was planted with a sunflower, hundreds of them. How lucky they all were to be remembered…All of these people had their own sunflower, a sort of periscope through which the dead can receive light and love. A looking glass allowing all of those individual to understand that they are not forgotten... [gesturing at the sunflower on his desk] This is my [remembrance] for the six million."
"Wiesenthal," directed by Jenny Sullivan, is set on the day of the famed "Nazi Hunter's" retirement while he recounts his experiences cheating death at the hands of Hitler's dreaded S.S. and dedicating his life to tracking down and bringing to justice nearly 1,100 fugitive war criminals, including Franz Stangl, the Treblinka death camp commandant; Karl Silberbauer, the S.S. officer who imprisoned Anne Frank; and the infamous "Architect of the Holocaust" Adolph Eichmann.
Dugan, the son of a decorated WWII veteran, is available for interview or to provide commentary on his play and the life of Wiesenthal.
ABOUT TOM DUGAN: Tom Dugan is a veteran actor, playwright and recipient of the 2011 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Solo Performance and was winner of three 2011 Los Angeles Ovation Award nominations.
http://tomduganplays.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Dugan-Plays/226637107445949?ref=hl
ABOUT WIESENTHAL Critically acclaimed one-man play "Wiesenthal" was hailed "masterful" by Backstage, "authoritative and engaging" by the LA Times, and "most eloquent" by LA Weekly. Written by and starring Tom Dugan, "Wiesenthal" chronicles the life of Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal.
http://tomduganplays.com/plays/wiesenthal/