THE GOOD SHIP ST. LOUIS

On May 13, 1939, a ship left Hamburg flying the German Nazi flag and carrying over 900 Jewish refugees. They held landing certificates for Cuba; from there most planned to emigrate to the United States. But when they reached Havana, their documents were declared invalid. Despite increasingly urgent appeals, neither the US nor Canada would admit them, and so the ship was forced to return to Europe, where the refugees were ultimately caught up in the tide of war and occupation. Many perished in the camps.

The ship was the MS St. Louis, and we are taking this voyage as a starting point for a soulful examination of the basic human right to asylum by linking its story to the history of our city with the same name, known for welcoming refugees from the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Yet as tens of thousands of civilians flee war and violence, ethnic persecution and economic upheaval from places as far-flung as Syria and Myanmar, Venezuela and Afghanistan, South Sudan and Ukraine--are we not bound to do more in the name of social justice?
With Nancy Bell,* Sarah Burke,* Eric J. Conners,* Jeff Cummings,* Christopher Hickey,* Kari Ely,* Miranda Jagels Félix, Peter Mayer,* Kathleen Sitzer,* and Tom Wethington.
* Member, Actors Equity Association
Directed by Philip Boehm
Music Director Henry Palkes
Scenic Design by Laura Fine Hawkes
Costume Design by Laura Hanson
Lighting Design by Steve Carmichael

https://www.metrotix.com/events/detail/upstream-theater-the-good-ship-st-louis