Witness Theater: A Film Review Bridging the Generational Gap: Connecting Aging Trauma Survivors with Teens

ORCiD

Nurit Fischer-Scheme: 0000-0003-4531-7311

Department

Social Work

Abstract

This film review examines the documentary Witness Theater directed by Oren Rudavsky. The film follows a one-year project of sixteen Brooklyn high schoolers and eight aging Holocaust survivors. The project utilizes weekly workshops, interviews, footage and animations that lead to a performance telling and showing the survivors’ experiences during WWII. Facilitated by Sally Shatzkes, a drama therapist, in a safe environment, multiple interventions connect between the generations as the relationships between the participants deepen. The documentary can serve social workers and educators working with trauma survivors while processing their experiences towards recovery and as a tool to teach about the long-life consequences of the Holocaust and other genocides. It presents an example of intervention with aging trauma survivors and teenage kids, while providing directions to work that aims to bridge the generational gap, process life stories and promote gerotranscendence.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2021

Publication Title

Journal of Gerontological Social Work

ISSN

0163-4372

DOI

10.1080/01634372.2021.1891491

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