Resort 76

press release: UW- Whitewater Theatre/Dance Department begins the 19-20 Season with Resort 76 by Shimon Wincelberg based on A Cat in the Ghetto by Rachmil Bryks. The play takes us to a forced labor textile mill in the Lodz Ghetto in Poland during World War II. The play focuses on a motley and compelling crew of characters who both live and work in this industrial “resort” and struggle to survive and find hope in the face of darkness. Resort 76 runs from October 7-12 at 7:30 pm and October 12 & 13 at 2:00 pm in the Hicklin Studio Theatre in the Greenhill Center of the Arts, 950 West Main Street, Whitewater, WI 53190. Tickets are available by calling 262-472-2222 or online at tickets.uww.edu

Bruce Cohen is directing Resort 76 in the style of immersive theatre. Immersive theatre removes the stage and places the audience within the production itself allowing the actors to break the fourth wall. This type of performance eliminates the boundaries between the real world and the world created in the play to stimulate all five senses, allowing for a more emotional experience for the actors and audience. It removes the audience from their comfort zones, causing their reactions to the events in the play to be more instinctual and creating a more real experience. To do that in a play about the Holocaust will create an empathy and visceral experience for all attending. Bruce Cohen has this to say about the play, “The story that Resort 76 tells is uncomfortable and compelling. The people it portrays are, at once, disturbing and laudable. Most importantly, this human story is deeply dimensional and does not seek to spare any polite sensibilities. It is certainly a justifiably difficult evening.”