I Never Saw Another Butterfly

The play opens with Raja Englandrova standing amongst projections of butterflies. She introduces herself and tells us simply, ”I survived Terezin.” The names and birthdates of the children whose artwork and poetry appears in the book, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, are announced over a loudspeaker. We also hear the date that each one of those children perished at the most famous concentration camp from World War II, Auschwitz. Raja listens and reacts. The scene changes to a flashback.

The audience is introduced to Irena Synkova, a teacher at Terezin, who has made it her responsibility to take care of the children in the camp. She has organized a makeshift school in which she teaches lessons and most importantly, encourages the children to create poetry and drawings to process the horror happening all around them. Renka, Irena’s assistant, enters with a new transport of children. She asks Irena where they will sleep. Irena assures her that they will find a place for every child that