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Students bring World War II to the stage at Thorneloe

'Turmspitze' is student written, produced and performed

A group of Laurentian University students are tackling one of the darkest periods in history in a new play on stage at Thorneloe University beginning March 29.

“Turmspitze” tells the story of Engel, a young German man who joins the military in the 1930s. He soon finds himself forced into lock-step with Hitler's Final Solution and aspirations of world domination as war breaks out across Europe.

Laurentian concurrent education student Alexander Peroff wrote and now directs the play, which features a cast and crew of 15 students.

Peroff has always had a keen interest in World War II but, while doing a high school placement in a grade 5 class,  it was a young student in who compelled him to start writing.

“We were doing a remembrance day ceremony where we discussed World War II and the conflict leading up to it,” Peroff explained. “And one of my students asked me 'if the German people were so smart, how could they fall for a bad guy like Hitler?'

“I tried to answer the question as best as I could but it inspired me to write a little bit about it.”

Peroff began researching the background and lead-up to the war with the intention of writing a book. Six years later, as a theatre student at Thorneloe University, he decided to turn that manuscript into a play.

His short novel was very rooted in fact, Peroff explains. To make the transition onto the stage, he created the central character of Engel — which means 'angel' in German — based on some journals of German soldiers and eyewitness accounts he came across in his research.

The play tries to answer that young students' question of how the German people collectively went along with Hitler's plot.

The title, “Turmspitze”, literally translates to 'tower tip' in German but, when used in a sentence, means 'fall from a great height', a nice play on words.

Peroff sees the play as an important story to tell today, given what's happening south of the border — many have drawn similarities between Hitler's rise to power and the ascension of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency.

While Peroff acknowledges there are certainly parallels, he stops short of drawing a clear line between the Nazi leader and the newly-minted commander-in-chief.

“That was actually an ironic mistake,” he said. “It's more relevant now than had Hillary Clinton come into play. I don't want to compare Donald Trump directly to Hitler but he is very Hitler-esque in his polices — with his mass deportations and his policies around religion and race. It does hit a little closer to home.”

For Peroff, the importance of the story also rings true because the generation that lived through the war is now “dying off.”

“As a historian, it's my job to make sure we don't forget,” he said. “It's kind of scary because I think we are forgetting and Donald Trump's election really is a scary wake up call to that.”

Peroff says the process of getting the show to the stage has been a difficult, but fulfilling one. He credits the support from both the university and the community at large for allowing him to realize it.

He has also partnered with Laurentian's motion picture arts program and, instead of traditional blackouts that are found in most theatre productions, scene transitions will be facilitated by authentic newsreel footage from the period.

“When the audience walks in, they'll be walking into a 1930s cinema and then they'll follow Engel on his journey,” he said. 

Adding to the authentic feel are the costumes. One U.S. Military police costume is, in fact, an authentic uniform from 1943. Peroff owns some of the costumes while others are on loan from collectors.

“Trumspitze” is on stage for four performances March 29 to April 1 at the Ernie Checkeris Theatre at Thorneloe University. All performances begin at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $5 and available at the door. All proceeds will be donated to Heroes are Human, a charity devoted to military members and first responders who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.


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About the Author: Patrick Demers

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