The play opens on 15 November 1938, six days after the launching of the government planned and sponsored anti-Semitic program called Kristallnacht—the Night of Broken Glass. It is the day that German State schools closed their doors permanently to Jewish students. Young Marianne’s world crumbles; hostility surrounds her every step. Her father is in hiding from the Gestapo and her mother surrounds her with over-protectiveness. Then, Marianne meets Ernest, a boy staying in her apartment building while on holiday in Berlin. They have a lot in common, but then Ernest discovers Marianne is Jewish, and she sees him in the uniform of the Hitler Youth. Goodbye Marianne is documentary fiction, based on the author’s own personal experiences as a child in Nazi Germany and of other Holocaust survivors. Winner of the Jessie Award for Best Children’s Play.

Irene Kirstein Watts is a storyteller, playwright, drama consultant, and director who has worked throughout Canada and Europe. Her publications include A Chain of Words, Making Stories, and Just a Minute. Irene was the first Program Director of the Vancouver International Children’s Festival.

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