between them, as they gazed into each others eyes, was electrifying, no love is possible between a Jewish girl and a Roman General and so she watched him depart, with only a white rose to remember her by. At the same time Silva, in Rome, receives orders from CAESAR (played by Adolph) to go back into battle and capture the rebels. Silva had returned to Rome expecting to be hailed as a conquering hero, allowed to retire from war. Upon receiving Caesar’s directive, Silva realizes he’s nothing but a slave at the mercy of a tyrant, all the while dreaming of the beautiful girl in Jerusalem. Silva discovers that a palace slave, POMPEY (played by Izzy), has overheard his blasphemous diatribe. Silva draws his dagger and POMPEY begs for his life. Moved, Silva spares his life and agrees to take Pompey with him to Masada as his personal slave. When Silva’s army surrounds the mountain to demand surrender, Eleazar refuses. On their mountain fortress, the rebels are safe from Roman attack. Silva, in his tent, despairs that he is losing the confidence of his men. RUFUS (played by Otto), Caesar’s Tribune in Judea, arrives and conveys Caesar’s order that Silva build a gigantic ramp from the desert floor to the summit of Masada along with a battering ram that can knock down the walls. Little does he suspect that the girl from the Jerusalem marketplace is up on the mountain at that very moment. When Eleazar returns from a raid on the Roman camp with the news that one of the rebels, AARON (played by Jan), has been captured, Tamar’s pain and anger are unleashed and she grabs a dagger and heads down the mountain path toward the Roman camp. At the encampment, Rufus discovers that Pompey is a hidden Christian and informs Silva that the slave must be crucified. Pompey refuses to deny his faith, despite the General’s pleas, and is dragged away. Silva decides to return him to Rome and allow Caesar to decide the slave’s fate. That night, Silva sits alone in his tent, making final plans for the massacre of Masada. A figure flies out from behind a tent curtain, dagger raised high. Silva wrests it away, unmasking the robes to reveal Tamar. He stares, shocked to see she’s the one who meant to take his life. She stares, equally shocked, waiting for him to kill her – but he can’t. As Silva takes her in his arms and they kiss, the Nazi Captain, Blick, interrupts the performance. He addresses the ghetto audience, “Friends, your hunger is at an end. You may leave the ghetto tomorrow morning. A new life awaits you in the east where we Germans have built a beautiful new labor camp. You will each be allowed to take one suitcase. And as a bonus, all who cooperate will receive one loaf of bread and a jar of marmalade.” As the headlight of a train approaches and the whistle blows, Act I comes to an end. ACT II Backstage, the actors are excited to leave for the labor camp at Treblinka. Rebecca believes they will find her missing mother there, that the family will be reunited. Adam desperately attempts to make them all listen to the truth – that Treblinka is a death camp and getting on the train, a death sentence. An angry Captain Blick arrives with his soldiers. Having discovered, from an informer, Adam’s real identity, he informs Daniel that he and Adam are under arrest and that the rest of the company will be on the trains in the morning, on a ride from which they’ll never return. Unless... If Daniel and the others will finish the play, if they help Blick to keep the audience calm so they unsuspectingly board the trains the next day, in return Blick will spare Daniel and his family. As Blick departs, the actors turn to Daniel in desperation – do they continue the performance and save themselves without telling the audience what they know? Can they let thousands of others get on the trains and die? Without giving them an answer, Daniel orders everyone back on stage and the performance resumes as we return to the play of “Masada”.
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