Only Miracles

Only Miracles is a 90-minute interactive, theatrical, and educational experience written and directed by Dodd Loomis as his final MFA thesis showing. It is sectioned out into three parts, to offer a truly dynamic and unique observation of the historical lived experiences of its subjects.

The first section was a 45-minute immersive theatrical event rooted in the principles of documentary theater.

• The dominant source material for this section was a pair of interviews—of Holocaust survivors Ed and Helen Lefkowitz—conducted by the Shoah Visual History Foundation on March 23, 1995.
• Transcriptions of these interviews, coupled with other historic documentation, serve as the backbone of the text for the project.

The second section was a 10-minute, multimedia museum experience.

• The source material for this section derived from the same 1995 interviews, as well as historic audio and video content including maps, ground plans, calendars, ticket stubs, and photographs chronicling the Lefkowitz’s arduous 7,000-mile journey of survival.
  

The third section was an optional, reflective space for guests to commune with other participants and digest the experience and record an interview after completing the experience.

This innovative show by Dodd Loomis was produced by the Tulane University School of Liberal Arts’ Department of Theatre and Dance, the Stuart and Suzanne Grant Center for the American Jewish Experience, and Touro Synagogue.