PERSEVERANCE
2024 Performance
Special Video Showing of Perseverance
CATEGORY: SPECIAL EVENT
Monday March 4, 2024 at 7:00 PM
at the New Hazlett Center for Performing Arts
Experience this special showing of the world premiere production of the play that brought a powerful memoir of healing and renewal to the stage.
Meet the Author: Lee Kikel, The Playwright: L.E. McCullough, and The Director: Art DeConciliis, with a post-show discussion about the play and the Holocaust.
2023 enGAGE Performance
PERSEVERANCE
Based on the Book Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor's Journey from Poland to America by Melvin Goldman and Lee Goldman Kikel
Adapted by L.E. McCullough
Directed by Art DeConciliis
The world premiere of Perseverance brings to the stage a powerful memoir of healing and renewal. Few visitors to the G&S Jewelry Store in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood during the 1960s and ’70s were aware that the cheerful proprietor, Melvin Goldman, had spent his teens enduring the horrors of Auschwitz before arriving as a penniless refugee in postwar Pittsburgh intent on reshaping his family’s destiny and replacing Darkness with Light, one shop patron at a time.
April 24, 2023 - May 7, 2023
Playbill
- Link to Perseverance Playbill (Flipbook)
RADIO INTERVIEWS
Saturday Light Brigade Radio Interview
Live discussion on Lynn Cullen Show
ARTICLES
90.5 WESA: Cache of audiotapes inspires new play about a Holocaust survivor in Pittsburgh article
Link to Pittsburgh Post Gazette: New play 'Perseverance' captures jeweler's memories of the Holocaust and new life in Pittsburgh article
Link to NHM Mag: Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Poland to America article Link to Entertainment Central article Link to TribLIVE - Prime Stage Theatre awarded National Endowment for the Arts Grant article BUY THE BOOK Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor's Journey from Poland to America
Perseverance Cast
Amanda Anne Leight
Will portray the roles of Balcia Goldman, Hospital Administrator, Miss Weinstein, Mildred Goldman, and Shop Customer
Amanda is honored to join Prime Stage Theatre for the first time on such an incredibly powerful and impactful piece. Favorite credits include Gretchen in Boeing-Boeing (Theatre Factory), Agatha DeLacey in Miserable Creatures (Rage of the Stage Players), Agnes in I Do! I Do! (Greensburg Civic Theatre), Miss Scarlet in Clue (Riverfront Theatre), Magenta in Rocky Horror (AAFC), Betty Haynes in White Christmas (Palisade Playhouse), and Emma Carew in Jekyll & Hyde (Comtra Theatre). She is grateful to have the opportunity to perform and would like to thank her family and friends for their love and support.
David Nackman
Will portray the role of Melvin Goldman
David was last seen at Prime Stage as multiple characters in Frankenstein and The White Rose, and as Boris Karloff in the one-person show Karloff: The Monster and the Man. Other local appearances include Mamma Mia! (Theatre Factory/Apple Hill Players), Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (Theatre Factory), and Claudius in an audio production of Hamlet (Food for Groundlings/Play on Words). Highlights from the previous four decades include regional and summer stock appearances, the first national tour of Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues, a stint on Broadway in Simon’s Broadway Bound (with Joan Rivers), and 20 years as a director, improviser, and ensemble member at NYC’s Castillo Theatre.
Anne Rematt
Playing the roles of Lee Goldman, Mrs. Fruendt, Łódź Woman, and Ship Passenge
Anne is returning to Prime Stage after being seen as Sarah Bradford in their production of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. Anne has also been seen on stage with companies around Pittsburgh, including Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks, Big Storm Performance Company, Jester’s Guild, and many more. She spends her autumn days playing Queen Anne Boleyn at the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival. Internationally, she has had the opportunity to perform in various venues throughout Italy and Scotland.
Matthew J. Rush
Will portray the roles of Chaim Goldman, Pawel Goldhersz, Ellis Island Officer, Shop Customer, and Nazi Thug
Matthew’s favorite roles include Caldwell Cladwell in Urinetown (Stage 62), Lawrence Jameson in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Stage 62), Baldy in A Man of No Importance (Front Porch Theatricals), Montague in Romeo and Juliet (PICT Classic Theatre), Archibald in The Secret Garden (Heritage Players), and Enjolras in Les Miserables (Barrow-Civic Theater). Matthew has appeared in choral performances with several regional symphony orchestras and competed in the World Championships of Irish Dance.
Johnny Terreri
Will portray the roles of Aron Goldman, Łódź Man, and Ghetto Singer
Johnny is honored to be a part of such an important piece of theatre. You may have seen him as Hysterium this past summer in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at South Park Theatre. Other favorite roles include, Solomon in Speech and Debate (NYU), Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (T.A.C.T), and the Lecturer in Reefer Madness (Noble Productions). Thanks to Art for bringing him on board and to his parents, Emily, and Lumie for their constant support
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