Newark, Il. - The fall play, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, stars a Jewish girl named Raja who was one of over 15,000 Jewish children who passed through Terezin, from 1942 to 1945. Only about a hundred lived until Terezin, in the Czech Republic, was liberated at the end of the war. These few went back to the scattered pieces of their lives, their homes, and their families.

Raja lived at Terezin, and taught the children when there was nothing to teach with, and helped give them hope when there was little reason to hope. The play, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, is Raja’s story.

The group of students rehearsing for this show includes: Kourtnie Haben playing Raja Englanderova, Carmen Castellanos portraying Irena Synkova, Alex Bogden as Honza, Paul Nelson appearing as the SS Guard, with Hannah Ward, Max Bisaillon-Spaeth, and Olga Elizalde representing the youth of Terezin.

This year Mr. Blidy’s drawing class worked in collaboration with the fall play. The students in drawing class created ink drawings that correspond with the play, I Never Saw Another Butterfly. Each drawing was based on different poems that are in the play.