Local Catholic school St. Teresa’s Academy hosted volunteer teen actors from the local Jewish community who performed a staged reading of “Thank You For Meeting Me Here,” a short play about a student’s experience with antisemitism in school.
The play, held on Dec. 11 (the fourth day of Hanukkah), was followed by a facilitated discussion.
The play, conceived by local playwright Victor Wishna, was commissioned in 2021 by the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City as part of the “Shine A Light on Antisemitism” initiative that aims to raise awareness, share educational resources and empower people to stand against Jew hatred. Kansas City is a spotlight city this year for the Shine A Light project. The play and fight against Jew hatred is prevalent due to the dramatic spike in antisemitism across the country and world since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel and ensuing war.
“Thank You For Meeting Me Here” was organized by the Jewish Federation in partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Bureau | American Jewish Committee (JCRB|AJC), and it has been performed in many middle and high schools throughout the Kansas City metro area over the past two years.
The volunteer teen actors — two of whom have been involved since the play was written and first performed — are leaders in the Jewish and wider communities and are dedicated to the importance and impact of this work. One has participated in JCRB|AJC’s Leaders For Tomorrow program and has been to Washington, D.C. as part of a “Together We Remember” trip in partnership with the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education. The original idea for the play was generated by a group of middle school students at Congregation Beth Shalom’s Polsky Religious School.