Deborah Haber is a second-generation Holocaust survivor. She’s alive today because of her father’s fortitude to make it through of one of history’s most horrific periods of hate, intolerance, persecution, discrimination, and genocide. A time where the saying “never again” became a mantra.
“In 2013, along with my collaborating composer partner Casey Filiaci, I wrote the musical, Moses Man about my father’s perilous nine-year journey from Vienna, Austria through Europe, Cyprus, Palestine and Africa to find freedom, sanctity and home in America. The show had its debut Off- Broadway at The Pershing Square Signature Theatre Center on 42nd Street. And then something happened. In the summer of 2015, Germany opened their borders to Syrian refugees, and everything changed. Our musical about “finding home” took on a bigger story to not only remember and keep the light shining on the past, but to shine the light on the present. After all…it was said “never again.”
“The question became how do we tell that story? How do we understand the pain of the individual when there are millions suffering? We needed to listen to the testimony - the voice of truth through the language of art. And that’s the basis of Finding Home: Shine the Light.
My father story began this journey and though he is no longer with me, through his testimony I had his voice of truth. I’m so fortunate to still have my mother with me, still telling the stories…although now at 100 (!) the memories are a bit clouded. She’s told the stories, and now we’re the keepers of those stories… we are now the storytellers.
For my parents, they did have a future, but for the 67 million refugees in the world today, the most the world has ever known… what is their future? Finding Home: Shine the Light is a collision of bringing past and present to the surface…the historic and the contemporary…to shine the light…to tell their stories…”
Moses Man is the true saga of Kalman and Lily Haber who navigated through tremendous obstacles and found hope, home, and freedom during one of history’s darkest times. Moses Man is the story of Deborah Haber’s parents’ journey. Her journey with this work of theatre started percolating a long time ago, but all the elements finally came together four years ago when she and composer Casey Filiaci joined forces. As they began working on Moses Man, they soon began to believe that they were engaged in a significant project. Moses Man is based on the historically important, but often under-represented implications of the displacement of those facing persecution during the Holocaust. Moses Man also reflects the contemporary dilemmas faced by each of us and the communities of which we are (and are not) a part. Moses Man is an important new American musical and it is also part of a larger project aimed to instigate consideration, conversation and education.
Indiana University 2018
2013 - JCC CenterStage, - Rochester, NY
2014 - Indiana Repertory Theatre – Indianapolis, Indiana
Indiana University – Bloomington, Indiana
2015 - Invited Show – New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF)
New York, NY
2014 - Premiere Musicals – Indiana University Summer Arts Festival
Bloomington, Indiana
2015 - Geva Theatre Center, Rochester, NY
Academic Appointment
The Gerald and Dorit Paul Artist-in-Residence,
Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University
