‘The Soap Myth’ with Ed Asner comes to New Bedford

Seven-time Emmy Award-winner Ed Asner and Johanna Day will star in a staged reading of Jeff Cohen’s play, “The Soap Myth,” at The Zeiterion Performing Arts Center on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. The readings, directed by Pam Berlin and will also feature Ned Eisenberg and Blair Baker, and serve as a tribute to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, also on Jan. 27. This performance is the only New England appearance on a seven-venue tour and is presented in partnership with Jewish Federation of Greater New Bedford with assistance from the Bristol Community College Holocaust Center.

Asner, who is beloved for the character of Lou Grant and the 2009 feature film “UP,” will perform the role of Holocaust survivor Milton Saltzman and Day will perform the roles of Holocaust scholar Esther Feinman and Holocaust denier Brenda Goodsen.

“The Soap Myth” takes place more than a half century after the end of WWII when a young journalist sets out to write an article about a Holocaust survivor and his crusade regarding the Nazi atrocity of soap. The play dramatically explores how a person survives and questions who has the right to write history – those who have lived it and remember, those who study and protect it, or those who would seek to distort and desecrate its very existence.

“The Soap Myth” was originally produced Off-Broadway at the Roundabout Theater in 2012 by the National Jewish Theater Foundation. A film of that production was broadcast nationally on PBS and is in the permanent collection of Britain’s Digital Theatre.

The Zeiterion Performing Arts Center is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide New Bedford and the region with performing arts programming of excellence that inspires, educates, engages and entertains. Tickets are available for purchase at www.zeiterion.org, by calling 508-994-2900, or in person at the box office at 684 Purchase St., New Bedford, Mass. Zeiterion Box Office hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and two hours before each performance.

– Submitted by the Jewish Federation of Greater New Bedford