FAIRFIELD – “Etty,” a one-woman play based on the diaries and letters of Etty Hillesum, a young Dutch Jewish woman who died in Auschwitz in 1943, will be presented on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 7:30 p.m. at the Wien Experimental Theatre, located in Fairfield University’s Quick Center for the Arts. The event is sponsored by Fairfield University’s Carl and Dorothy Bennett Center for Judaic Studies.

Adapted and performed by Susan Stein, and directed by Austin Pendleton, the play relies solely on Hillesum’s own words to promote social justice and challenge prejudice by examining the consequences of genocide.

Stein’s adaptation begins in 1941 when Esther “Etty” Hillesum is living in Amsterdam. Upon the recommendation of her therapist, Julius Spier, she began a diary on March 8, 1941 to help her with her depression. The diaries take on their own literary life, presenting both Etty’s growth as a writer and spiritual transformation. Etty’s words, insights and beliefs reach out from the Holocaust and allow us to see the power of hope and individual thought in the most extreme circumstances. The play challenges participants to reexamine assumptions about the Holocaust and explore issues of resistance, human rights, social justice and individual responsibility.

Admission is free but seating is limited and reservations are requested. For reservations: bennettcenter@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4000 x2066.

For more information about “Etty,” the play, or Etty Hillesum, visit: www.ettyplay.org.

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Fairfield University at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Fairfield University is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95.