WITNESS THEATER IN NEWS
Opinion: Becoming a witness changed me forever
One day after school I walked into an office building in midtown Manhattan feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement. I was there to meet other high school students and older adults at the nonprofit Selfhelp Community Services. I heard about Selfhelp’s Witness Theater program from my sister so I knew that the older adults we would be working with are not ordinary New Yorkers – they are all Holocaust survivors.
Selfhelp Community Services’s Witness Theater Program
What Students Say about Participating in Witness Theater
Playlist
4:30
3:09
13th Season of Witness Theater Performances in 2025
Witness Theater was conceived by Irit and Ezra Dagan and developed by JDC-Eshel in Israel. It was brought to New York in 2012 by Selfhelp Community Services, Inc. This year’s Witness Theater Program is a collaboration of Selfhelp, UJA-Federation of New York, Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School, and the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. The program also receives generous support from Carol and Carl Hess, the Miriam and Arthur Diamond Charitable Trust, and Ken & Harriet Kupferberg Family Foundation.
With Assistance from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Supported by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future and by the German Federal Ministry of Finance.Â
WITNESS THEATER: THE FILM
Witness Theater: The Film and Study Guide are powerful tools aimed at teaching the lessons of intolerance and bigotry to middle and high school students.
Take a look behind the scenes into Witness Theater’s year-long therapeutic journey. You will see stories of loss, struggle and lives rebuilt and the healing power of inter-generational relationships. This moving documentary, currently shown at film festivals across the country, is about the power of connection, friendship, and love between generations. It is also about healing, to the extent possible, in the context of the most brutal genocide in human history. Learn more about Witness Theater: The Film at www.witnesstheaterthefilm.com.
Witness Theater: The Film is based upon Selfhelp’s Witness Theater program. Filmmaker Oren Rudavsky, distributor Menemsha Films, and a number of individual and organizational supporters including UJA-Federation of NY, have joined in this feature length documentary that serves as a behind the scenes look at a nearly yearlong relationship between students and survivors.
Witness Theater: The Film is distributed by Menemsha Films.
Email Menemsha Films to schedule a screening of the documentary for your community.
HELP EDUCATE FUTURE GENERATIONS
Selfhelp is dedicated to remembering the Holocaust and raising awareness of the survivor population still in need today. Through creative educational initiatives, we’re ensuring that the memory of the Holocaust will not be forgotten by generations to come. Help us educate future generations about the Holocaust.
