Chicago Sun Times April 17, 2008

'Suitcase' is packed with warmth, charm

Kids' Holocaust tale has wide appeal
By Hedy Weiss

I first heard the story of "Hana's Suitcase" a few years ago when NPR aired a Canadian documentary about a remarkable project undertaken by the Children's Holocaust Education Center in Tokyo. It explained how in 2001, the center acquired a suitcase bearing the name "Hana Brady" that was once the property of a girl about which only these facts were known: She was born in Czechoslovakia in 1931 and died in the Auschwitz concentration camp at age 13. Her brother survived and ended up in Toronto.

The search for more information about Hana -- one of the 1.5 million Jewish children who perished in the camps -- propelled a director of the center and her young students on a worldwide investigative quest to find out everything possible about this particular girl, and, by extension, about the Holocaust.

The story of their pursuit of Hana's full identity and fate -- first a book by journalist Karen Levine and subsequently a play adapted by Emil Sher -- is now receiving a charming, poignant, youthfully high-energy production by the Chicago Children's Theatre, with director Sean Graney ("Honus and Me") once again demonstrating his flair for connecting with audiences of all ages.

Putting an artful, sophisticated spin on the "Dora the Explorer" modus operandi, the show follows Fumiko Ishioka (an effortless Mia Park) and her ever-curious and creative students Akira (the comically high-flying Allan Aquino) and Maiko (smart, feisty Stephanie Kim) as they contact Holocaust museums far and wide and try to reinvent the terrible ordeal of Hana and her family.

The wonderful Carolyn Hoerdemann gives several hilarious turns as eccentric Czech archivists. Greta Honold is a pretty, soft-spoken Hana (if decidedly Aryan-looking). Levi Holloway plays her sensitive brother. And Dev Kennedy and Gerritt O'Neill add fine portrayals.

Alison Siple's costumes (with a green dress turning into a crucial powerhouse moment), Mike Tutaj's projections, Heather Gilbert's lighting and Kevin O'Donnell's sound all combine to conjure history in a flash.

There is just one gaping omission: Not once are we reminded that Japan was Nazi Germany's ally.