Selected Press Coverage
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"Isaac" and "Teresa" in the Venture Theatre Workshop Production of Paper Candles |
Play Teaches Lesson
by Raviya Ismail
(Excerpt from an article about an earlier version of the play
that originally appeared in Home News Tribune, April, 2004)
... Along with acting in the play, pupils constructed the set, were in charge of lighting and props, picked out the performance songs and danced and sang in the musical sequences. Pupil Bryan Haring even conducted a song that fellow pupils sang. The only thing pupils didn’t do was write the script.
“You can see that what happened in the 1940’s unfortunately was happening in the 1990’s,” said [teacher Delores Olma]. Pupils learned from “the mistakes of people from the past.” They learned “how to learn from them and celebrate our differences … I think the history has become more personal to them.”
[Teacher Patricia Clark] said the school does not have a problem with bias incidents and bullying but “it hits every school.” The project has “caused everyone to stop and think” about how actions affect others.
Chris Santiago was happy to be a part of the play because, “I think everybody has an equal shot at everything.”
Chris Marchini said the play should be watched by younger pupils “so younger kids won’t bully other kids.”
Candles In Our Windows
by Kathryn McGrath
(Excerpt from an article about an earlier version of the play
that originally appeared in Teaching Tolerance, Spring 2005)
... Jillian Jimened, a Woodland student who played [a role] in the production, said the play was especially powerful because it was based on real events. "Because we were reenacting it, you felt their emotion and you got to feel what they felt and see what it was like to walk in their shoes or change places for a day," Jimened said.
There was less bullying at Woodland after the 6th-graders performed the play for the school, she added. "I think it changed [the students who picked on other students] because they know how cruel they are now and how horrible they looked when they bullied people."
... David White, director of education at Passage Theatre in Trenton, N.J., said performing a play allows students a deeper insight. "You are forced to become an active participant in the actions on stage - it deepens your understanding," he said.
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Photo by David Gard, The Trenton Times |
Nightlights Still Burning
by Beth E. Fand
(Excerpt from an article about the Passage Theatre production of an earlier version of the play that originally appeared in The Trenton Times, December, 2005)
... It’s a story people will be able to relate to on many different levels, says the [play's] director, David White. … “Janice could have taken the story and written only about Jews who were persecuted and stood up, but she has made it about how kids deal with bullying in school, how it’s the responsibility of the people who are not being persecuted to stand up for those who are,” he says. “It connects the dots between anti-Semitism and racism and just plain schoolyard bullying.”
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Photo by David Gard, The Trenton Times |
Standing Together Against Hate
by Mark Porter
(Excerpt from an article about an earlier version of the play
that originally appeared in The Montclair Times, June, 2005)
"... The beauty of a play like this is you can go straight from [performing the play], to discussions of what is happening in our classrooms, in our schools, in our community,” said Philip M. Brown, director of the New Jersey Center for Character Education, which is affiliated with the state Department of Education. “It shows the power of social action and civic involvement.”
“We used it in a slightly earlier version, in May 2004, in a regional conference in Passaic County,” Brown said. “The play was performed by the Rosa Parks School of Performing Arts in the Paterson School District. It fits perfectly with our mission in terms of looking at issues of tolerance.”