Oklahoma Baptist University Theatre Department hosted lecturer and author Michael Korenblit following the performances of Barbara Lebow’s ”A Shayna Maidel.”

            Michael Korenblit is the son of Holocaust survivors Manya and Meyer.  He co-authors their escape from the Nazis in “Until We Meet Again: A True Story of Love and War, Separation and Reunion.” Although only 17, Manya and Meyer’s love endured the death of their parents and siblings, the three story high hay stack that was hollowed out to secure their hiding place, and 13 concentration camps between the two of them.

            In his lecture, Korenblit portrays Manya and Meyers’ migration from Hrubieszow, Poland to Ponca City, Oklahoma.  Having survived World War II, they worked together at the Dixie Dog to support their family in America.  Korenblit’s family experience extends the experience of the lives we have witnessed—his ability to speak as a person who sought to learn more about family members who were lost to  him because of the Holocaust expands or builds upon or enlarges the experience reenacted on the stage in this play---the play becomes more when we are given to opportunity to see how this experience was real, not simply the creative energies of a playwright.

            Michael Korenblit is President and co-founder of the Respect Diversity Foundation. He is also a former producer of an Ace Award-winning public affairs series, as well as numerous award winning documentaries.  “Until We Meet Again” was selected for the 1996 volume of “Reading Group Choices.”  Prior to moving back to Oklahoma in 1992, Korenblit worked 19 years for the Close Up Foundation, an educational organization in Washington, D.C.  Mike graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1973 with a B.S. in education and a teaching certificate in social studies.