ACT ONE

Prague before the Nazi invasion: ("So Much Life"). The city rejoices in its beauty and vitality—KURT the singer performs in a louche cabaret; HANNAH flirts with the student philosopher SIMON before rushing off with WOLFIE to join JACOB. BERTA, in the city with her ambitious German husband, writes to her daughter. Suddenly, RAHM and HEINDEL, two Nazi officers, stride through the audience and announce that Czechoslovakia has surrendered to Germany—occupation has begun. The Jews of Prague are sent to the ghetto Terezin.

In Terezin, the Jews learn that the camp will be beautified in preparation for an inspection by the International Red Cross. The commanders hand out work assignments: Jacob will serve on the Council of Elders, assisted by Berta; Kurt will direct plays to be performed for the Red Cross; Simon will join the custodial staff, and Hannah will paint pictures of Terezin's "gaiety and vitality." An execution punctuates the scene.

Settling into the work, Jacob and Berta assign Jews to transports heading East. Hannah becomes adept at producing propagandistic portraits of Terezin ("The Glory of Art"). Soon, however, the reality of her situation as a prisoner is made clear. Hannah resolves to counter the lies she has abetted—she will work secretly on documenting the reality of Terezin.

Hannah's life in Terezin is complicated by two men. She offers Kurt advice on surviving, and requests a kiss from him in exchange for food. Later, Hannah encounters Simon for the first time since the Prague riots. Less coherent than he once was, Simon expresses his wonder at the inmates' spirit of survival. ("Signs of Life") Hannah finds Simon's optimism misguided; still, they form a bond.

At a rehearsal of the play for the Red Cross ("Golem"), Hannah learns that Kurt has taken her advice to heart when he reveals his black market activities. She begs Kurt to use his contacts to smuggle out her secret pictures of Terezin. Kurt—clever, not brave—declines. The rest of the Golem play cast arrives.

Their work is cut short as Berta relates a story about a group of Polish children; they were sent from Bialystock in order to recover. However, the prisoner exchange that was to free them fell through ("Home Again Soon"), and Berta helped to lead the children onto transports to Auschwitz.

Jacob sings a mourner's kaddish ("Kaddish"). Hannah urges the Jews to renounce their complicity in the lies of Terezin, starting by refusing to perform for the Red Cross. Jacob, however, advises cooperation. At an opportune time, he, as a representative of the Council of Elders, will tell the Red Cross inspector the truth, with Hannah's pictures as proof.

On a beautiful day in Terezin, the Red Cross Inspector is ushered by Rahm and Heindel to a staged soccer game, cabaret, and playground. The delegate is charmed by the phony cafes and facilities.

Jacob approaches. Heindel sees Jacob and intercepts him, knocking him savagely to the floor, where Hannah's pictures scatter. Heindel realizes that the Red Cross Inspector has witnessed everything. All eyes turn to the Inspector. With a deliberate pause, the Inspector ignores the beating, and continues singing his praises of Terezin. Heindel and Rahm sigh with relief; the Jews are devastated. As the delegates leave and the lights fall, Berta rushes to Jacob's assistance.

ACT TWO

Passover: in a hidden room, Hannah, Wolfie and Berta prepare for a seder ("Seder"). The others arrive and Simon brings news: Jacob has been arrested. Berta wants to stop the ceremony, but Hannah insists on continuing—even the Nazis don't govern Passover. The action cuts between Jacob's defiance under interrogation and the efforts of the Jews to maintain their tradition.

Later, Simon and Hannah steal a moment together. Hannah asks Simon to kill her if she is assigned to a transport. Simon recoils from the idea, but then agrees, explaining that he cherishes Hannah so much that he won't allow her to suffer. Appalled at Simon's philosophical distance, Hannah leaves; Simon, desolate, takes God to task for His actions ("Another Name for Man").

Rahm suspects that Kurt knows the source of the intercepted pictures, and pressures him to reveal it, in exchange for safe passage to Switzerland. Kurt hesitates, then agrees.

Hannah is now under interrogation. Heindel brings in Jacob, physically broken. "Do you see the artist who gave you the sketches?" asks Heindel. "I believe it was you, sir," Jacob replies. Heindel resumes beating Jacob; when Hannah attempts to intervene, she is struck and assigned to a transport.

Hannah runs to Kurt's chambers. She presses him to hide the rest of her sketches. ("Pieces of Paper"). Kurt agrees reluctantly. With the papers in his hand, Kurt accuses God of testing him, but questions His authority to do so. Why has God been silent these years? Kurt concludes that God will not intervene in human affairs; the fate of the world will be determined by humans ("To Make a Man").

Sitting in Jacob's old office, Berta informs Hannah and a sickly Wolfie that Jacob is dead. Elsewhere, the Jews place Hannah's sketches in hiding places throughout the camp ("Reprise- Pieces of Paper").

With the pictures safe, Hannah runs to Simon and begs him to fulfill his promise to kill her and Wolfie with a gun she acquired from a guard. Simon can't do it. Hannah grabs the gun, points it at her head and fires, but the weapon is defective. "Once upon a time," reflects Simon, "refusing to kill a loved one and her brother would have been considered a kindness." The terror of the moment dissipated, Hannah and Simon reconcile and go to Kurt's rooms to make love for the first time.

Booted from his quarters, Kurt stands on the street at night, smoking. Heindel notes that he is out past curfew. Kurt responds by offering to lead Heindel to the rest of the pictures. They head out to scour the camp.

Hannah slips out of bed to sketch Simon while he sleeps. In the grey light before dawn, she can imagine that they're not in Terezin. ("Almost"). Barging in, Heindel discovers the lovers. Delighted, Heindel overturns the furniture; a stack of Hannah's pictures emerges. Simon claims responsibility for them. Suddenly, Wolfie bursts in, brandishing Hannah's gun. The defective weapon does nothing, and Heindel sends Hannah and Wolfie to the ghetto prison.

Some time later, the Russian army is heard approaching the camp. Rahm, in civilian attire, is abandoning Terezin. Heindel is confused—shouldn't they stay and finish off the Jews? Rahm finds this idea absurd; the Jews were a tool, nothing more. Rahm flees for Argentina.

Heindel is left alone as his world crumbles around him. ("Good.") Meanwhile, in their tiny, dark cell, Hannah nurses Wolfie through the last stages of typhus ("Dream, Wolfie, Dream"). As Heindel ponders what to do next, a Russian soldier enters and shoots him dead. He opens the door of the cell to discover Hannah, but is too late to save Wolfie. Terezin has been liberated.

Weeks later, awaiting repatriation, Hannah encounters Berta. Hannah relates how Kurt and Simon died. Across the stage we see Kurt and Simon doing hard labor at Auschwitz. A guard, recognizing Kurt from before the war, presses him to perform a song. Kurt refuses; the confrontation is interrupted when Simon falls from exhaustion. The guard kills Simon; Kurt cradles Simon's body in his arms. Ordered back to work, Kurt replies, "This is my work," and proceeds to say Kaddish over the body. As the guard raises his gun, the scene darkens.

But, Berta insists, not all the news is bleak: her husband wants her back! Hannah is horrified, but Berta is adamant: she must move on ("I Will Forget").

In a courtyard, Hannah sketches Simon from memory. Hannah expresses her confusion, her struggle to imagine a future with Simon's child, even with the nightmare of Terezin behind her ("A Way to Live"). Simon appears, unseen to Hannah. He responds to Hannah's doubts: she must reengage with the world of the living in small ways. Unseen as well, Kurt joins them. They reflect: as long as Hannah is alive, she must live fully and move forward.

Simon's ghost beckons Hannah to a corner of the yard. She loosens a brick there and finds a sketch that has survived. Elsewhere on stage, the sketch is illuminated in a frame, as if in a museum. More sketches are illuminated, filling the stage with images and light. The ghosts of the dead join Hannah, charging her—and us—with the responsibility to live and bear witness. Through Hannah's refusal to succumb to despair and her determination to embrace life, the dead will be honored.

Terezin has a cast of nine or more and can be produced as lavishly or as simply as is desired.

TEREZIN CAST LIST
Kurt, a cabaret singer
Simon, a philosophy student
Hannah, an art student
Berta, a nurse and convert to Christianity
Wolfgang, her brother, age 10
Heindel and Rahm, two Nazi officers
(Ensemble plays various other roles)