The Story: My Mother’s Father’s Song tells the true story of Alice Davis who was displaced from her native Warsaw at the onset of WW-II never to return home. Alice spent a lifetime trying to assert her memories of what her family name and her father’s tavern –central to many aspects of life in Warsaw at the time– represented in the Jewish quarter of 1930s Warsaw and its association with the famous Polish ballad "Bal u Starego Joska" (aka "Bal na Gnojnej"). It wasn’t until shortly before her death in Canada that an unexpected turn of events convinced her family that Alice’s childhood stories were not the result of a fanciful mind.
The project: An immersive, multimedia-based theatrical event that allows the audience to see through the eyes of a mature Alice as she is interviewed for a major study on displacement. Original music compositions and archival documents would be provided by Alice’s own son, Jazz pianist virtuoso Ron Davis. Also, to include the pre-German-invaded Warsaw neighborhood as a significant 'character' in the story, projected hand-drawn and motion graphics animation would place us in Alice's past and the socio-political shift that shook her world and that of her community. A sectional/cabaret seating configuration would allow audiences to participate as patrons of the tavern or the audience of the interview.
Why now?: Given the continued rise of ultra-right groups not only in the United States but also in Europe, as a theatre artist I am hoping to bring this timeless story of displacement and female strength to San Francisco Bay Area audiences and create opportunities for multicultural storytelling exchanges during Q&A sessions by including immigrant communities, Jewish groups and anyone interested in our shared humanity and to fight back hate and the discrimination of immigrants.
Timeline: Following a staged reading open to the public with post-show Q&A, we intend on presenting/premiering the workshopped play in San Francisco inthe fall-winter of 2023.
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