Hana’s Suitcase

Based on the multi-award winning bestseller by Canadian producer and author Karen Levine, Hana’s Suitcase is a story of recovered identity. Bringing to light the life and fate of two Jewish children who lived in Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation, it is the remarkable true story of a small group of Japanese children who yearned to solve a mystery – just who exactly was the girl whose name and birth date were painted on an old battered suitcase provided by the Auschwitz Museum?

Employing a cast of eight and using multi-media and other innovative staging techniques, the play takes place between two time-frames: Tokyo in 2000, when the children of the Holocaust Education Centre and its Director, Fumiko Ishioka began their search into the identity of Hana Brady; and Czechoslovakia in the 1930s and 40s, where Hana lived with her family and ultimately became a victim of the Nazis.

The story of Hana’s Suitcase was first told in a radio documentary produced by Karen Levine. Its second form was as a book for children, also by Karen. The book has been translated into more than 10 languages and is available in over 30 countries. It has won 16 book awards internationally and has been on the bestseller list for over 36 months. The impact and worldwide success of the book sparked enormous attention: a television documentary, a feature-length documentary and two films based on Hana’s Suitcase are now in the works.

On Sunday, October 1 Hanna’s Suitcase is scheduled for a 2:00 PM matinee. There are no performances scheduled for Saturdays, October 14 and 21.