Indie Theater Blog

The Soap Myth tackles one of recent history’s controversial conundrums: did the Nazis use fat from the bodies of Jewish concentration camp victims to make soap, as some have reported? More broadly it looks at the issue of who “owns” history. Originally seen in 2009, The Soap Myth is being revived in March 2012 by National Jewish Theatre. I chatted with playwright Jeff Cohen in this cyberinterview.

Q. The Soap Myth is an interesting play tied to a bit of history that some think is fact but others disagree.  Could you tell us a bit about this background and how you handle this in the play?

A. The most surprising thing about my research is discovering how fluid history is. In the issue of the Holocaust atrocity of “soap,” there are three forces at work – and tension amid all three. Most importantly, eyewitness memory testimony of Holocaust survivors is often in conflict with the evidentiary criteria of Holocaust scholars. Just because the survivors remember something, or experienced something, this is often not enough for historians who require evidence to corroborate the testimony. Add to this mix the forces of Holocaust Denial that is nothing more than Anti-Semitism disguised as historical revisionism. The Deniers’ strategy is “false in one, false in all.” They cast doubt by pointing to a specific allegation and challenging whether there is hard evidence that it actually happened. If they can cast doubt on one thing, they can cast doubt on everything. They say – “Well, if the atrocity of “soap” cannot be proved, than it didn’t happen. If “soap” didn’t happen, what else are they claiming that didn’t happen???”

Obviously, the survivors feel they have a corner on the truth, and anyone who challenges their memories is, in fact, denying their experience. Scholars, on the other hand, understand that memories can be tricky. A survivor can hear a story about something that may have happened to someone else, and acquire that experience as their own and believe it to be part of their own memory. Scholars, however, also admit that just because there is no evidence of something, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. But they have to be extremely careful about the history of the Holocaust, and are responsible to make sure that everything is well-documented and provable so as to fight and refute claims and charges made by the Anti-Semitic Holocaust Revisionists.

Q. You produced this play several years ago.  What was the audience reaction and how do you expect audiences to react to this off-Broadway production?

One of the great challenges of writing a play and presenting it as an Off Off Broadway Showcase is that it is often a one-shot opportunity and not part of a developmental process. I learned an enormous amount from the showcase of the play, from audience and critics’ reactions alike. And I used this to completely re-write and (hopefully) improve the play. Theater is a collaborative medium and, for a playwright, that collaboration includes the greater theater community of critics and audiences. I began doing the rewrite within a week of closing the initial production. I didn’t know whether the revised play would ever get produced. I wish that the ability to actually develop a play in New York, to learn from audiences and critics, wasn’t so rare. Unfortunately, the financial costs of producing theater in New York, along with the sometimes draconian restrictions imposed by Actors Equity, stop the developmental process just as it is beginning to bear fruit.

Audience reactions initially were very positive, but the play needed to be more sharply focused, and its advocacy better balanced – the play could not be seen to take sides. Also, there was a flaw in its dramaturgy, and the relationship between Milton (the survivor) and Annie (the young journalist) wasn’t fully realized. I believe that the rewrite, and the subsequent work with Arnold Mittelman, has gone a long way to fixing these flaws. I hope that audiences concur.

Q. How did you get together with Arnold Mittleman and the National Jewish Theater?

A. Arnold and I have known each other by reputation for many years – and the collegial way in which theater folk follow each other’s work proved to be very instrumental in getting us together. We were “formally” introduced by Ellen Perecman who runs a company called New Worlds Theatre Project. Arnold, having somewhat recently created the National Jewish Theater, asked to see the play. His enthusiasm for it was almost immediate. But he also understood, in a way that I didn’t quite, that a play about the Holocaust, that delves into how the history of the Holocaust is determined, has to be completely accurate in all of its assertions. He took the play to two of the most prominent Holocaust scholars in the United States, Michael Berenbaum (who was on the Presidential Commission for the Holocaust and was Project Director for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) and David Marwell (who is currently Director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City). Arnold insisted that the play was not ready to be produced until or unless it passed muster with them. Berenbaum actually gave permission for me to quote him in the play, and Marwell and I had a lovely meeting several months ago. He will also be participating in a special “talkback” after one of the play’s performances.

Q.  How does it feel to have someone else direct the play?

A. It feels great. Arnold is a true man of the theatre – he is intellectually astute, passionate, and great fun to be around. He lives in Miami, so much of our work together has been via email and phone conversations. The phone conversations in particular have been delightful. His insights are always right on the money, and I look forward to seeing him and the actors work their magic in the rehearsal room.

Q. Do you think the play will continue to have a life and, if so, what will you be doing to make this happen?

A. Of course I hope the play continues to have a life. Like my play last year, The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller, I seem to be drawn to subjects literally off the beaten track. I passionately believe that theater should do this, and that audiences should demand this of new plays. It’s one thing to tackle the subject of the Holocaust, and another to tackle the notion of how History gets written. The play delves into both these subjects. Most importantly, however, the play also is a human story about a young journalist and a Holocaust survivor, and the bond that forms between them. Jerry Tallmer wrote a beautiful article in The Villager and he came up with a terrific way of describing it – How does someone like Milton Saltzman survive the stupefying horrors of the concentration camp as a boy and then survive these memories and emotions the rest of his life? How does one survive surviving?

I would love the play to have a further life, both in New York and around the country and the world, because it carries within it the catharsis that, despite unspeakable acts of inhumanity, we as human beings have the capacity to survive. To survive surviving.

I’m not sure what I can do to make this “future life” happen. It is in the hands of a wonderful producer, director and cast. At the moment, I’m just along for the ride.

Learn more about Jeff Cohen in Indie Theater Now.