June Prager
Testimonials
Joyce Carol Oates, Writer, Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction
“Distant Survivors is quintessential Heyen poetry; incendiary, intransigent, challenging and provocative.”
Jan Zlotnik Schmidt, SUNY/New Paltz Distinguished Teaching Professor
"The play is a masterful and compelling weave of history, poetry, and second generation witnessing. The work explores with sensitivity and depth the stance of a second-generation German-American who feels the burden of the Holocaust…a profound and moving theatrical experience."
Dr. Michael Panitz, Rabbi, Temple Israel and Professor of Religion, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA
“In an era of mounting denials of the historicity of the Holocaust, June Prager's play offers an opportunity to educate new sub-communities within our English-speaking cultural sphere about the horrors of the Nazi program of dehumanization and genocide.”
Pastor Daniel B. Ward, St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church
“The gift of remembering through this remarkable play becomes a powerful antibiotic against the plague of anti-Semitism of yesteryear, aware that it still resides among us today and tomorrow.”
Anita Donovan, The Jewish Times, Philadelphia
“The offering is darkly disturbing and not for the faint of heart, but it is poetic and absorbing. The cast is excellent throughout, with a direct passion not often found on modern stages.”
Kerstin Steitz, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of German, Department of World Languages and Cultures, Old Dominion University
“I thought it was an excellent performance and feel incredibly lucky that you visited my class and discussed your play with the student…this is really a unique learning opportunity and I wish we could provide similar experiences for our students every semester.”
Abby Johnson, Education Chair, Vassar Jewish Union Board Religious and Spiritual Life, Vassar College, NY
“Bill Heyen’s poetry is important for people to hear, especially for college students who are ready to grapple with the same issues as he does in his poetry.”
The Reverend Cameron Hardy, Associate Director of College Counseling, Chaplain, Millbrook School, NY
“By its searing emotion, authentic voices, and intimate, spare staging, instead of confronting, it moved my heart, soul and mind to reflect and relate to the horror as it unfolded. Presented to us, an interfaith community, it created an experience of bearing witness and spurred deep and pain-inspired conversation about war atrocities, cruelty, cultural blindness, and reconciliation. It is a beautiful, spectacular piece of work.”
Jim Pouchot, Audience Member
“Just attended Distant Survivors. Very moving, very deep, very emotional. Strongly suggest everyone should see this performance.”
Rabbi Hanoch Hecht, Jewish Community Center of Dutchess County/Hudson Valley Community Center
“We were honored that you allowed us to participate in this great production.”
Pat Lamanna, Social Justice Committee Chair, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Poughkeepsie
“We believe that events like Distant Survivors can help us all remember what happened during the Holocaust, to recognize the fact that we have, individually and collectively, the power to confront evil and possibly to prevent future atrocities.”.