About the Play:

Finalist for the 1999 Governor General's Award (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize)

Still the Night is a full-length musical drama by Theresa Tova. The story of two young women who were separated from their parents during Word War II, and wander through Poland, pretending not to be Jewish. Still the Night is a moving re-creation of innocence destroyed in terrible times, it is also a powerful tribute to the courageous vitality at the heart of so much Holocaust survival.

Still the Night is about two young Jewish girls who seek refuge in the forests of Poland during World War II. Two young cousins move from the cosmopolitan luxury of pre-war Europe to the clandestine life of Jewish partisans in the Polish Underground during the Second World War. Their physical transformation into women mirrors their spiritual growth as hardship gives birth to courage, compassion, laughter and love. The girls' tale spans two time periods and flashes back and forth between Europe in the 1940's and Canada in the 1970's. The two Brynas' coming of age while running from the Nazis in the forests of Poland, finds its nemesis in the effects of a mother's wartime trauma on her post-war Canadian daughter. The Yiddish and American songs, along with a few original tunes by Alcorn and Tova, interweave and adorn a richly textured, timeless story. Theresa Tova has fashioned from true stories a moving, heart-rending and uplifting drama of survival against all odds and punctuated it with songs from the Holocaust era.

Still the Night premiered in 1996 at Tapestry Music Theatre (now Tapestry New Opera Works) in Toronto, to huge success, and enjoyed a sell out run that earned it four Dora awards, including Best Production and Best New Musical. The play subsequently toured to Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.

Cast: 2 women, 3 musicians

What people say:

"Rush to see this astonishing work about the gritty heroism of young Jewish women fighting for their lives, surviving the Nazis as Partizans in the forest, and then painfully creating themselves anew. …If you care about gripping theatre, or Jews, or women, or Jewish women's history – or simply about human heroism – you can't miss Still the Night." — The Toronto Star

"The heart of the piece lies not in the wartime atrocities, but in the way each survivor deals with experiences and memories after the war." — Variety

About the Playwright:

Theresa Tova is a Canadian writer and performer who has created a sensation with her first play, Still the Night, which was nominated for three Betty awards and won four Dora awards, including Best New Play. Born in Paris, France, Theresa immigrated as an infant with her parents to Calgary, where she attended private Yiddish school and started her acting career. A Gemini and Dora nominated actress, she has since gone on to star in television, film, and stage.