Transmission of Memory Via the Arts
Blue Pumpkin Productions was established in 1999 by Marc P. and Susan L. Smith to engage in a variety of entertainment-related projects. Several versions of cabaret and vaudeville revues have been presented in venues throughout Massachusetts. Since 2002, an additional primary creative mission has been pursuit of reconciliation between Germans, Jews, and Poles, and transmission of memory via the arts. Central to this mission, called The Kreisau Project, are two plays written by Marc P. Smith, "A Journey to Kreisau" and "Karski", both of which have been performed in U.S. cities, and in cities in Germany and Poland.
With deep sadness, we note the death of Blue Pumpkin Productions’ co-founder Marc P. Smith, on March 23, 2011, at the age of 77.
News story in the Telegram & Gazette: Foothills co-founder Marc Smith dies at 77 by Richard Duckett.
The family suggests charitable donations to Rachel’s Table (www.rachelstable.org) or to the Freya von Moltke Foundation (www.fvms.de/en/welcome.html)
With the passing of Marc P. Smith, the focus now is on Marc’s most recent creative work, The Kreisau Project, and the two plays of his that are at the center of that project. We are seeking producers, venues, and theatre companies interested in continuing to give these two important works public exposure. Please visit our new website: www.thekreisauproject.com for more information on these next directions.
Blue Pumpkin Productions Past Events and News Items
Theatre, Reconciliation, and a Playwright's Personal Journey
Susan L. Smith gave a special talk on her late husband Marc’s most recent theatrical work, The Kreisau Project, and the paths opened by this multi-year creative pursuit. The presentation, on June 1, 2011, at The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester, had previously been scheduled for Marc as part of the Center’s Access Hanover speakers’ series. The Kreisau Project centers on a pair of plays Marc wrote and produced dealing with both German and Polish resistance against the Nazis. The plays, “A Journey to Kreisau” and “Karski,” were presented in several U.S. cities as well as in Germany and Poland.
Photo: Susan Smith with Detlef Gericke-Schoenhagen, Director of The Goethe Institut in Boston, MA at the Hanover Theater after the presentation.
Screening of documentary film, "Freya"
The first central Massachusetts screening of Boston College professor Rachel Freudenburg’s documentary, Freya!, was presented on May 22, 2011 at the Hibernian Cultural Centre, Worcester. Dr. Freudenburg was on hand, both to introduce the film and to conduct a question/answer session following the screening. Marc Smith had worked with Rachel during the several years of the making of this documentary, consulting on various aspects of the project.
Marc Smith Served on Humanities Advisory Panel for Documentary Film on Jan Karski
Emmy Award winning and Oscar nominated producer, director, cameraman, and editor, Slawomir Grunberg is creating a documentary film about Jan Karski, a hero of the Polish underground who acted as a courier during World War II, carrying his reports of the atrocities he witnessed to Britain and the U.S.
Grunberg asked Marc to serve as one of eight humanities advisors on this film. Among other members of this advisory panel are: Prof. Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, Polish writer and historian who was a colleague of Jan Karski’s, a former political prisoner at Auschwitz, and former Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs; Michael Berenbaum, professor of Jewish Studies at American Jewish University and, from 1988-1993, Project Director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., overseeing its creation; and Sir Martin Gilbert, who is the official biographer of Winston Churchill, and has published six volumes of the Churchill biography, as well as histories of the first and second World Wars, histories of Israel and of the Holocaust.
The film, Jan Karski & The Lords of Humanity, will employ animation techniques such as rotoscoping intertwined with archival footage including authentic voice-over of Karski as well as modern-day documentary scenes and interviews.
Marc noted: "It is exhilarating to be involved in an advisory capacity with this film project, especially with a panel of such diversity and international renown. It’s not false modesty when I mention that this is a panel of 7 distinguished scholars…plus me."
Tribute to Freya von Moltke
On January 23, Marc was a participant in a Tribute to Freya von Moltke, held at the Goethe Institut-Boston. Freya died on New Year’s Day 2010 at the age of 98 in her home in Vermont. At the center of this tribute event was the premier showing of a new documentary film about Freya, made by Boston College professor Rachel Freudenburg. Marc was a speaker at that event, presenting his personal perspective on his friendship with Freya. You can see a video of Marc’s presentation at this link: http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/bos/acv/pok/2011/en7067268.htm
Other Projects
"My Life--In Smithereens"
Compelling aural history for stage and on spoken-word CD--told by a New England father to his sons.
"2 Vaudevillians Find Buried Treasure"
A delectable treat of vaudeville era music and comedic material is presented in this 22-track CD. (Note--Both CDs, 2 Vaudevillians and ...Smithereens, available on line, via Discography page.)