If the Whole Body Dies

by Robert Skloot

Following a staged reading at KU last year, this thought-provoking drama returns for a fully staged production in the University Theatre. The play explores the life and career of Raphael Lemkin, whose obsession with stopping genocide (a word he coined) led to the adoption of the United Nations Treaty Against Genocide. The meaning of the Holocaust is reexamined here through a complex international framework. The play creates a tension between the Holocaust as a historical event and the subsequent political conflict over the term “genocide,” a conflict that underscores the persistence of prejudice and inaction even while the images of the gas chambers and their victims were still in circulation across the American media. By turns funny and sad, the one-act play at times seems to occur in Lemkin’s memory, as a series of flashbacks, while he encounters allies and enemies to his cause. The production of this play is part of a semester-long investigation of genocide through guest artists and lecturers, organized by the Department of Theatre.

• Directed by John Gronbeck-Tedesco
• Scenic, Lighting and Costume Design by Tatyana Wilds

Scenic, Costume and Lighting Design by Tatyana Wilds

Performances

• Thursday November 29, 7:30 p.m. | IngeTheatre
• Friday November 30, 7:30 p.m. | Inge Theatre
• Saturday December 1, 7:30 p.m. | Inge Theatre
• Sunday December 2, 2:30 p.m. | Inge Theatre
• Monday December 3, 7:30 p.m. | Inge Theatre
• Tuesday December 4, 7:30 p.m. | Inge Theatre
• Wednesday December 5, 7:30 p.m. | Inge Theatre

Ticket Prices

• Public: $10
• Senior Citizens & KU Faculty/Staff: $9
• All Students: $5