Oy

Through Oy, playwright Helene Cixous interrogates the question of forgiveness, the work of
memories and transmission to new generations, and the state of modern racism throughout the
world. Oy is the story of two German Jewish sisters, Selma and Jenny, who in 1995 in their late eighties are some of the last remaining witnesses to the period of Nazism in Europe. They have accepted an invitation from the mayor of Osnabrück, the city of their youth in Germany to testify about their experiences before the younger German generation. Upon returning to Paris from
Osnabrück, the elderly sisters try to make something of the swirl of emotions, opinions and
memories that have surfaced. As they cook in the kitchen together, they talk about all the things
they were not able to express in Osnabrück. Through their simple, flavorful work together, they begin to unravel the complexities of a society’s internalized racism – the broad anti-Semitism that so darkly colored their past. Based on close family members of the playwright, the
interaction between these fictional sisters is honest, emotional, humorous and compelling.