The Soap Myth Film Analysis

The play The Soap Myth written by playwright Jeff Cohen is an excellent representation of the prodigious struggle that many survivors of the holocaust faced. The story revolves around the effort of Milton Saltzman (Greg Mullavey), a holocaust survivor who is attempting to prove to the entire world that Nazis used human fat to produce soap, from the victims of concentration camps. He along with a reporter Anne Blumberg (Andi Potamkin), are attempting to prove that a survivor’s memory is just as relevant as historical memory. Thus their uphill task leads them to discover more about themselves and help the audience truly understand Saltzman plight. As we learn about “what it takes for a man to survive, surviving” (Jeff Cohen). Directed by Arnold Mittelman and Ron Kopp the production uses very modest props and costumes as set by David Withrow and Heather Wolensky. This correlates very well with the theme of the play and thus focusing predominately on the actor’s performances. …show more content…
The use of a small cast, with extremely long character dialogs expressed to me the skill and experienced of the cast. The overall atmosphere of the theater felt very intimate and I would have assumed that I was sitting in a small auditorium with approximately 100 people. My personal experience with theater is primarily and extensively as a member of the audience. However I have acted in 4 plays and assisted in directing a play in my senior year of high school. I have studied theater in high school and took an internships with a drama school over the summer. My years of viewing plays from different languages, places, genre and scales, I find that some of the best performances are driven by a great team work between actors that build an atmospheres that captures the