The Assembly

Participant Moses Libitzky expected to attend for a post-film discussion with Chanan Tigay, Editor-in-Chief, J. the Jewish News of Northern California

In this musical-themed hybrid film, actor, musician and playwright Hershey Felder sets out to tell the story of the late Eva Libitzky, a Holocaust survivor from Poland who spent much of her life sharing her story at school assemblies across the United States. The story unfolds as eight of his music students accompany Felder and Eva’s son Moses to Poland where they retrace her footsteps from her childhood home in Lodz to the Jewish ghettos and cemeteries in Warsaw, culminating at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum. Much like Felder’s other works, the story is largely told through music. This captivating film features each of the students performing songs inspired by their connections to Eva’s life, which echo universal themes of loss and a search for faith, identity, and home. The Assembly transforms Holocaust education, building bridges across cultures, and bringing the concept of the Holocaust education assembly to life for a new generation. — JFI Staff

American Theatre Magazine has said, “Hershey Felder, actor, Steinway Concert Artist and theatrical creator is in a category all his own.” Following 28 years of continuous stage productions and over 6,000 live performances throughout the U.S. and abroad, Hershey Felder created Live from Florence, An Arts Broadcasting Company, based in Florence, Italy, which has produced more than eighteen theatrical films to date. They include the recently-released Noble Genius-Chopin & Liszt; The Assembly; Violetta, the story of Verdi’s Traviata; Dante and Beatrice; Mozart and Figaro in Vienna; the world premiere musicals Nicholas, Anna & Sergei; the story of Sergei Rachmaninoff; Puccini, the story of famed opera composer Giacomo Puccini; Before Fiddler, a musical story about writer Sholem Aleichem; Great American Songs and the Stories Behind Them, Leonard Bernstein and the Israel Philharmonic, a documentary, and the popular Musical Tales in the Venetian Jewish Ghetto. Two seasons of programming are currently available at www.hersheyfelder.net with season 3 being launched in spring of 2024. Hershey has given performances of his solo productions at some of the world’s most prestigious theatres and has consistently broken box office records. Hershey is the adaptor, director, and designer for the internationally performed play-with-music The Pianist of Willesden Lane with Steinway artist Mona Golabek; producer and designer for the musical Louis and Keely: ‘Live’ at the Sahara, directed by Taylor Hackford; and writer and director for Flying Solo, featuring opera legend Nathan Gunn. Hershey has operated a full-service production company since 2001. He has been a scholar-in-residence at Harvard University’s Department of Music and is married to Rt. Hn. Kim Campbell.