Remembering Edith Stein - Feature Article
Friday, February 25, 2005, 11:28 PM
From the North Andover Eagle Tribune
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Remembering Edith Stein
By Yadira Betances
Staff Writer
Actress Ellen Seltz does not know what it is like to be discriminated against, rejected by her family, and live in fear of persecution.
But for two hours Thursday, she will walk in the shoes of a woman who did as she takes on the title role in "Edith Stein."
The play, to be performed at the Rogers Center for the Arts at Merrimack College in North Andover, is loosely based on the story of Stein -- a German-Jewish philosopher who converted to Catholicism and became a Carmelite nun.
After her conversion, Stein was shunned by her family, then ultimately faced the same fate as so many other Jews when she was captured by Nazis and sent to Auschwitz, where she died in 1942.
In 1998, Stein was canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church under her religious name, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Stein's life has fascinated people for years, among them playwright Arthur Giron of New York. In a telephone interview, Giron said he became interested after seeing a picture of Stein with both her Jewish and Christian names, but no other information.
He researched her life for 25 years, reading about the Jewish faith and the rise of the Nazis, interviewing Jews and attending Shabbat services at synagogues to familiarize himself with the faith.
While he long wanted to write a play about Stein, he did not find an angle until he met a former German spy in his native Guatemala. He wondered what would happen if the spy met Stein at that moment, and the play grew from this curiosity.
"I always write by asking myself a question," Giron said. "No one accepted her, so I asked, 'Why won't people accept me as I am?' She became a metaphor for me."
In portraying Stein, Seltz, who was raised as a Presbyterian and became a Lutheran after marrying award-winning producer Andrew Seltz, said her faith has been strengthened. On days when the role leaves her physically and emotionally exhausted, she goes to church and prays.
"I ask the Lord to decrease me so he can be increased. After that, I am not engrossed in my own feelings and it isn't about me," she said. "It's so liberating. I am completely carried by him."
To prepare for the role, Seltz read Stein's autobiography and the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, from whom she took her religious name. She also attended a Jewish funeral to familiarize herself with the bereavement traditions.
Seltz said her goal is to reveal the personal side of the saint to the audience -- the details with which they may not be familiar, such as her sense of humor that came out in her skits and other writings.
"This is such a bleak story in so many ways and she goes through so many dire moments, I wanted to bring her sense of humor into the play and bring life into the character," Seltz said. "I want to open up the play for people to identify and empathize with her. If it's too somber, she is seen (only) as a saint and not like a regular person."
Seltz first auditioned for the role of Stein back in 2001, but the play was not produced until 2003.
The Rev. Lenny Delgado, who has produced and directed the play in New York for four years, said it takes the audience through the peaks and valleys of Stein's life, including her relationship with her family, her love for Jewish traditions, and how she dealt with her spiritual struggles.
"The play is not only for entertainment purposes," said Delgado, who will be directing and producing in North Andover. "It is thought-provoking and it touches people."
To add another dimension, last year Delgado used actors depicting Nazis to take tickets at the door and tell people to turn off their cell phones and pagers. He recalls a woman who reacted by crying.
"I thought I had made a mistake by having the actors there," Delgado said. "But she told me not to apologize to her. She was crying because it brought back memories. It just was so real and she was glad that people understood what Jews went through."
The play has enjoyed a successful run in New York as well as locally. Steve Stuart of Beverly produced "Edith Stein" last year in Boston, which played to a full house on many nights.
"It's a good story," said Stuart, who works at Playomatic Media Group in Beverly. "For me, the focus of the play was how Stein deals with love of neighbors and how to love your enemies."
Producing the play also touched him personally. Stuart, who is Protestant, said it helped him embrace Catholicism.
"Artistically, I felt it was the best thing I've put my stamp on," Stuart said. "Spiritually, it gave me a deeper commitment of loving my neighbor while still wrestling with loving my enemy."
In addition to Seltz and members of the Lugorian Players, the Rev. Richard Piatt, director of campus ministry at Merrimack. College, will appear in the production. Students Casey Sylvestro, Ashley Solomon, Katie Walker, Jim Staley, Kevin Elms and Greg Williams have minor speaking roles as nuns, Nazi soldiers and Stein's family members.
Piatt, an Augustinian priest, said it is important to reflect on Jewish-Christian relations this year, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
"I hope the audience walks away with a greater appreciation of the good and evil that exists," Piatt said. "The fact that people are still dying for who they are is too easily ignored and I don't want them to do that."
Staff writer Yadira Betances may be contacted by phone at (978) 946-2000, or by e-mail at ybetances@eagletribune.com.
