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The Soap Myth

The Soap Myth is a play by Jeff Cohen about how we craft 'the truth,' and what we do when our truth is under attack. The action of the play picks up shortly after millennial journalist Annie Blumberg is contacted by Milton Saltzman - a 91-year old Holocaust survivor.

The Soap Myth

The Soap Myth is a play by Jeff Cohen about how we craft 'the truth,' and what we do when our truth is under attack. The action of the play picks up shortly after millennial journalist Annie Blumberg is contacted by Milton Saltzman - a 91-year old Holocaust survivor. Milton tries to convince Annie to write an article at her magazine shaming Holocaust Museum curators who have refused to include an artifact that Milton preserved as a part of their collection. The object? A bar of soap made of human fat. The curators, all Jewish, claim that Milton's testimony that Nazis manufactured soap from human remains cannot be corroborated - and therefore doesn't meet academic standards of 'truth.' The play follows Annie as she does her due diligence to write an informed piece about the story. A story that ultimately revolves around who has the right to write history, who determines the truth, and what it takes to survive surviving.

David Treatman Creative lead this project from 2019 to 2021. A reading of the play is available to stream on PBS:

https://allarts.org/programs/house-seats/the-soap-myth-xplvfu/

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