South Jersey Theater Company's Play About Holocaust Hits 20 Years

HADDONFIELD, NJ - When Katie Adler was in the fifth grade, she fell in love with author Lois Lowry's Newbery Medal-winning novel, "Number the Stars."

“It was a story of young girls my age helping their friends and Jewish community while having compassion during a horrifying time," Adler said in a release issued by the Haddonfield Plays and Players on Wednesday. "It was my first real understanding of what Nazi Germany was like in the time of World War II.”

When Adler discovered “Number the Stars” was being made into an Off-Broadway musical in the late 90s, she auditioned for the lead role of Annemarie. When she failed to land the role, she decided to bring the show to the local level.

"Looking back, it makes so much sense as to why that part wasn’t supposed to be mine," Adler said. "My family was meant to have a greater mission with 'Number The Stars' when my [parents] had the brilliant idea to ask the writers of the show if we could produce it on our own in South Jersey."

In 1999, Katie Adler and her mother, Kim, helped launch the "Number the Stars" Community Education Program at Haddonfield Plays and Players. The musical’s creator, Sean Hartley, was even in attendance at the first performance, according to the organization.

Over the years, the program has expanded to provide educational resources to teachers and schools that bring their students to see "Number the Stars" at Haddonfield Plays & Players and has included talk-backs with the cast and Holocaust survivors.

Twenty years later, the story has been shared with more than 20,000 school children, according to the organization. During that time, 15 survivor participants have shared their stories.

Now, 12-year-old Zoey Blackman is assisting a committee of dedicated volunteers in planning an anniversary gala as part of her bat mitzvah project.

"When I was young, I read 'Number the Stars' for the first time and instantly fell in love with the book," Blackman said. "I was in the show for two years at Haddonfield Plays & Players as well. I realized what an awful time the Holocaust was and got so interested in learning more."

The Number the Stars 20th Anniversary Gala will take place April 6 at the Betty and Milton Katz JCC in Cherry Hill. The event will feature a performance of the show with alumni cast members like Adler and Blackman.

“Holocaust awareness is so important because it teaches kids and reminds adults about a terrible time in history where people were targeted because they were different,” Blackman said. “We must retell the stories from that time so it will never happen again.”

Blackman’s point was supported by statistics from a 2018 study by the Claims Conference and a 2014 global study of Americans from the Anti-Defamation League. According to those studies:

• 11 percent of adults and 22 percent of millennials (defined as those between 18 and 34) haven't heard of or aren't sure if they've heard of the Holocaust;
• 31 percent of adults and 41 percent of millennials believe 2 million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust whereas official tallies show that about 6 million Jews were actually killed; and
• 15 percent of adults think people should be allowed to use Nazi symbols or slogans, and 11 percent of adults think it's acceptable to hold Neo-Nazi views.

The attached image of the Adler Family was provided by Haddonfield Plays and Players.