Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski
Derek Goldman
"Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski, engages three distinct mediums: a live theatrical production, a feature film, and an educational course with an accompanying online platform, in order to broaden and deepen an audience’s opportunity to bear witness to the story and legacy of Jan Karski. Each element-- theatrical, cinematic, and educational-- may be experienced on it’s own or integrated with each other. In a tour-de-force, solo performance, Academy Award nominee David Strathairn portrays World War II hero and Holocaust witness Jan Karski, a messenger of truth who risked his life to carry his harrowing report from war-torn Poland to the Allied Nations and, ultimately, the Oval Office only to be ignored and disbelieved. Escaping the clutches of the Nazis, bearing witness to the despair of the Warsaw ghetto, and standing tall in the halls of power, Strathairn captures the remarkable life of this self-described “insignificant, little man” whose forgotten story of moral courage and individual responsibility can still shake the conscience of the world.
Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski, written by Clark Young and award-winning international theater director Derek Goldman, is an original production by The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University. The one-man play—performed with just a table and two chairs—was launched in November 2019 as a featured part of the Centennial Celebration Weekend of Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, and then was invited to London as part of the 75th Anniversary Commemoration of the Liberation of Auschwitz, in partnership with Human Rights Watch. Based on the extraordinary response to these performances, the production received invitations to perform at leading festivals and theaters around the world. “A brilliant and timely portrayal of an extraordinary man.” Christiane Amanpour, CNN “Blown away last night by David Strathairn’s portrayal of Polish World War II hero Jan Karski who risked his life to try to stop the Holocaust.” US Ambassador Samantha Power “All I can say is that I saw it and it is the truth.” - Jan Karski"
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