News on Perseverance
Perseverance trailer - Prime Stage Theatre - Pittsburgh PA
Perseverance, our co-production with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, is available to stream online April 24th-May 7th. Join us for the powerful true story of Melvin Goldman, who endured the horrors of Auschwitz before rebuilding his life as a jeweler in Pittsburgh and replacing Darkness with Light, one shop patron at a time. Purchase a recorded streaming link at primestage.com!
New play tells story of Holocaust survivor who started over in Pittsburgh
Host Heather Abraham is talking with author Lee Goldman Kikel and actor David Nackman about "Perseverance," a book turned play about a Holocaust survivor who moved to and started over in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh native reflects on father’s story of survival, family history through Holocaust
SAXONBURG — A black and white picture of 12-year-old Mieczylow Goldman, which was hidden in a chimney and discovered after World War II in the walls of what remained of his family home in Łódź, Poland, is one of the only pictures that remains of the Holocaust survivor’s childhood.
As a child, Lee Goldman Kikel’s father didn’t speak much about being ghettoed in the bustling town where he once went to synagogue, played soccer and went to school. He did not speak about being transported by cattle-car to Auschwitz, where he was known by Nazi guards as Prisoner KZ6427, how he was separated from his family, narrowly escaped death in a crematorium, and was imprisoned in three different concentration camps.
WISR Extended News at Noon Interview With Lee Kikel
Pittsburgh-raised author keeps memory of Holocaust alive, speaks at Cranberry library
CRANBERRY TWP — The last time Melvin Goldman saw most of his family, it was when Schutzstaffel or S.S. soldiers separated him and his brother, Aaron Goldman, into a separate line from his parents and five other siblings. Only he and Aaron would survive.
That was at Auschwitz in the early 1940s.
Cache of audiotapes inspires new play about a Holocaust survivor in Pittsburgh
Growing up in the 1960s and ’70s, Lee Goldman Kikel heard about the historical genocide then starting to become widely known as the Holocaust. She also knew her relatives were few, and she understood her father, Melvin Goldman, had survived the camps. But Melvin, a Squirrel Hill jeweler, never really talked about his experience, and details were scant.
What changed that was a box of cassette tapes Kikel found after her father died, in 1996.
Read more at https://www.wesa.fm/arts-sports-culture/2023-04-13/perseverance-play-pittsburgh-holocaust-survivor
Prime Stage Theatre Perseverance Interview
Author, playwright and family discuss the book and play. Prime Stage production of PERSEVERANCE. Based on the Book Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor's Journey from Poland to America by Melvin Goldman and Lee Goldman Kikel
New play ‘Perseverance’ captures jeweler’s memories of the Holocaust and new life in Pittsburgh
Melvin Goldman was a teenager in Poland during World War II. He witnessed the horrors of Auschwitz first-hand, narrowly escaping death on numerous occasions. After the war, he moved to Pittsburgh to open a jewelry store in Squirrel Hill, G&S Jewelry, at 5803 Darlington Road.
In the 1970s, Goldman bought a tape recorder and talked through his memories of his early life and the Holocaust.
He died in 1996, but those tapes have ensured his memory and legacy live on.
Lynn Cullen Live- Pittsburgh City Paper talks with Lee Goldman Kikel
She is the author of Perseverance, a story about her father Melvin's survival of the Holocaust told in his own words from audio recording he made.
"Can you realize what it is to live every day with fear, with these suffering thoughts for 5 years, the beast did a good job, not only did they murder 6 million jews and about 25 million other human beings, but even the ones who survived, each and everyone had something done to him or her physically or mentally or both that until they die they will never forget, they will remember it everyday, i still try to live with myself now so many years later." -- Melvin Goldman
His story will be brought to the stage on April 15-16, 2023 at Prime Stage Theater in the Northside.
How this Secret History Of A Holocaust Survivor Made Its Way From Audio Tapes To A Pittsburgh Stage
The world premiere of ‘Perseverance’ opens April 15 at the New Hazlett Theater and tells the story of a Polish teenager sent to Auschwitz who later owned a Squirrel Hill jewelry store.
The audio tapes had sat in her closet for a decade. But finally, in 2015, Lee Goldman Kikel pulled them out to listen to them for the first time. They contained the audible memoir of her father, Melvin Goldman, who told the gripping story of growing up a Jew in Poland, being sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp and then later becoming a jewelry store owner in Squirrel Hill.
New Play Tells Story of Pittsburgh Jeweler Who Survived the Holocaust
At the Prime Stage Theatre in Pittsburgh, “Perseverance” will share the story of jeweler Melvin Goldman.
Pittsburgh—The story of jeweler Mieczyslaw Goldman, both heart-wrenching and uplifting, is the focus of a new play at Pittsburgh’s Prime Stage Theatre.
Goldman’s customers may have been surprised to learn the somber backstory of their cheerful neighborhood jeweler, who was a Holocaust survivor.
Read more at https://nationaljeweler.com/articles/11843-new-play-tells-story-of-pittsburgh-jeweler-who-survived-the-holocaust
Perseverance Director and Cast Interviews
The Director and Cast discuss Prime Stage Theatre's production of Perseverance.
Local Holocaust survivor’s story retold by Holocaust Center/Prime Stage Theatre
New play tells the life of former Squirrel Hill businessman Melvin Goldman.
Playwright L.E. McCullough is quick to note that he doesn’t have Jewish ancestry. He is just as quick to explain that he has Jewish blood.
His connection to Judaism has remained strong throughout his career. He has written two books of Jewish plays— “Plays of Ancient Israel” and “Plays of Israel Reborn”— and also adapted the book “Perseverance: A Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Poland to America” for the stage.
'Perseverance' tells story of Squirrel Hill jeweler's journey from Holocaust camps to U.S.
During his nearly four decades at the G&S Jewelry Store in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, Melvin Goldman created custom jewelry. But the shiny pieces belied Goldman’s much-darker journey to reach the United States.
His story will be told onstage Saturday and Sunday at the New Hazlett Theater, when “Perseverance” opens.
The play is based on a book of the same name, written by Goldman and his daughter, Lee Goldman Kikel.
Local Holocaust story gets world premiere at Prime Stage Theatre
A Pittsburgh-based theater company was awarded a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which it will use to stage the world premiere of a Holocaust narrative.
Prime Stage Theatre is one of 1,251 recipients of Grants for Arts Projects awards, which total nearly $29 million.
The grant supports the stage adaptation of “Perseverance,” which is adapted from the book “Perseverance: A Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Poland to America.” The book is co-written by Melvin Goldman and his daughter Lee Goldman Kikel, and is written from audio recordings Melvin Goldman made decades after World War II and accented by his daughter’s memories of Pittsburgh.
Read more at https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/local-holocaust-story-gets-world-premiere-at-prime-stage-theatre/
'Perseverance' tells story of Squirrel Hill jeweler, Holocaust survivor
Before Melvin Goldman achieved the American Dream as a prosperous Squirrel Hill jeweler, he endured one of humanity's worst nightmares.
Born Mieczyslaw Goldman in Poland, he was shipped to Auschwitz as a teenager. His family and many friends all perished in concentration camps. Left alone and penniless after the end of World War II and the liberation of the concentration camps, he came to Pittsburgh as a refugee and mostly kept the horrors he witnessed to himself.
Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Poland to America
“He was just a regular person,” are the words that playwright L.E. McCullough used to describe Melvin Goldman.
And Goldman did appear to be a ‘regular person.’ With a successful jewelry business in Squirrel Hill and a wife and daughter, he seemed to have it all. But Mieczyslaw “Melvin” Goldman had seen horrible atrocities before he immigrated to the U.S. in 1950. Having survived the Holocaust and life in the ghetto and Auschwitz, he lost nearly everything and everyone he loved. But he not only persevered, but thrived as a businessman in his new hometown.
Read more at https://www.nhmmag.com/post/perseverance-one-holocaust-survivor-s-journey-from-poland-to-america
Ford City library hosting author who wrote about her father's Holocaust survival
Lee Goldman Kikel to discuss "Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor's Journey from Poland to America"
Hearing about the dread of a Jewish person’s struggles during the Holocaust can be a petrifying experience.
Now imagine you’re hearing about the horrors of the Holocaust from your own father nearly 20 years after his death.
Rick Dayton is joined by Lee Kikel, author of the book Perseverance. She wrote this book after she discovered her father's recordings, wherein he explained what his experience during the Holocaust was like.
Listen to Lee’s 2023 interview here: https://www.audacy.com/podcast/rick-dayton-11c5e/episodes/perseverance-one-holocaust-survivors-journey-from-poland-to-america-8ec7b?action=AUTOPLAY_FULL&actionContentId=201-1346b287-376e-4f69-9cc7-2644be6ee380
Daughter of Holocaust Survivor Publishes Her Father’s Story
After numerous pandemic related delays, Hampton resident and first time author Lee Kikel now has a full schedule of speaking engagements where she shares the true story of her father’s journey from his childhood in Poland to his final home here in Hampton. Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Poland to America is the tale of Melvin Goldman’s inexplicable survival, a frightening journey recounted in his own words as transcribed from audiotapes he recorded in the late 1970s. With truth and authenticity, Melvin tells how his childhood was stolen by the Third Reich as his family and friends were forced into a Jewish ghetto and ultimately condemned to Auschwitz.
September, 2022 PDF: https://thehamptonnews.com/past-issues
Prime Stage Theatre awarded National Endowment for the Arts Grant
Pittsburgh’s Prime Stage Theatre has received a significant financial boost for its plan to produce the world premiere stage adaptation of “Perseverance,” the story of a Holocaust survivor’s life in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood.
Prime Stage has been awarded a $10,000 Grant for Arts Projects from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). It’s part of the Grants for Arts Projects awards announced by the NEA as part of its first round fiscal year 2023 grants.
Read more at https://triblive.com/local/prime-stage-theatre-awarded-national-endowment-for-the-arts-grant/
Prime Stage Theatre receives award from the NEA
Prime Stage Theatre in Pittsburgh has been awarded $10,000 grant to support the world-premiere stage adaptation of “Perseverance.”
The play is adapted from the book “Perseverance: A Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Poland to America.” It’s based on the life of Melvin Goldman, who came to Pittsburgh and was a jewelry designer in Squirrel Hill. In April, Prime Stage Theatre, in collaboration with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, will present “Perseverance.” Each year, Prime Stage teams up with the Holocaust Center to engage in productions designed to foster learning and understanding of the horrors of genocide, and actions that can be taken against it.