Psalms 23: 4-5 Inspires Jewish Holocaust Descendant to Act

March 14, 2003

     Holocaust descendent Dr. Claudia Stevens will present the one-person Holocaust musical drama “A Table Before Me” on March 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Sigmon Recital Hall, Grousbeck Music Center.

     The title for Stevens’ drama comes from Psalms 23: 4-5. “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

     The “enemies” in “A Table Before Me” are the Nazis who persecuted and executed millions of Jews during the Holocaust.

     After the Austrian State Archives released letters from the Gestapo to Stevens’ grandfather, Stevens wrote and arranged “A Table Before Me,” a play about the life of her Jewish mother Hertha and grandfather Edmund Sinai in Vienna during World War II.

     When the Nazis invaded Vienna, they seized Sinai’s tailoring business and set up their headquarters in the Sinais’ home. The Sinai family was forced to live penniless in the ghetto where Stevens’ grandfather died.

     Stevens sings and plays piano pieces by Mozart, Janacek, Schoenberg, and Sieczynski to reflect the emotions portrayed in the play. The performance also includes various monologues portraying both her family and the Nazi officers.

     For more information about the performance or the Holocaust Program at Ferrum, contact Dr. Marcia Horn at (540) 365-4328.

     Ferrum College is a four-year, private, co-educational, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. For more information on Ferrum, visit www.ferrum.edu. # # #