Witnesses

Conceived by Jordan Beck
Book by Robert L. Freedman
Music by Carmel Dean, Matt Gould, Adam Gwon, Anna K. Jacobs, and Gerald Sternbach
Lyrics by Jordan Beck, Mindi Dickstein, Matt Gould, Adam Gwon, and Anna K. Jacobs

Five songwriting teams and Tony Award-winning writer Robert L. Freedman bring to life the words of five Jewish teen – Éva Heymann, Dawid Rubinowicz, Moshe Flinker, Renia Spiegel and Yitskhok Rudashevski – who recorded their experiences in diaries as their world descended into World War II. These memoirs are a testament to the human spirit during a period in history that must never be forgotten.

WITNESSES received its world premiere production at California Center for the Arts, Escondido in 2022. The production was awarded two 2022 San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding New Production and Outstanding Direction of a Musical (J. Scott Lapp). It was one of the San Diego Union-Tribune’s “Top 10 San Diego Theater Productions of 2022.”

WITNESSES features a cast of 8 (4M, 4W).

Audio

“Another Renia”

Music & Lyrics by Anna K. Jacobs

Featuring Sara Kapner, with Anna K. Jacobs, Masi Asare, Nicholas Decker, Elijah Anderson.

Preview

WITNESSES at California Center for the Arts, Escondido

Photos by Ken Jacques

Press

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Review: “Witnesses” a triumphant world premiere for CCAE Theatricals

Escondido Times-Advocate: Witness the power of Witnesses’s world premiere production

BroadwayWorld: Review: WITNESSES at CCAE Theatricals is inspiring, heartbreaking, and not to be missed

History

WITNESSES was developed by California Center for the Arts, Escondido, where it received its world premiere production in 2022, directed by J. Scott Lapp.