The mission of The Sparks Fly Upward Foundation is to educate people about the Holocaust, genocide and tolerance through theatrical presentations, ancillary educational displays, exhibits, and accompanying materials and curricula, while paying tribute to the victims and heroes of the Holocaust. This mission is carried out not only through productions of The Sparks Fly Upward, but also through a footnoted libretto, an historical companion, and public lectures about Berlin before and during the Nazi Regime and other more recent genocides.

Public Lectures

Composer/Librettist Cathy Lesser Mansfield lectures about Berlin before and during the Nazi Regime and other more recent genocides. The lecture uses several hundred photographs from the photo archives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, to show Jewish life before the Nazi regime, and the chronology of events leading up to the Holocaust. The lecture also uses music from Sparks, and a DVD entitled Defying Genocide: Choices That Saved Lives, which focuses on both the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.  For a list of the lectures given by Prof. Mansfield click here.  To invite Prof. Mansfield to present a lecture to a school, religious, civic or other group, please click here.

Historical Companion

The Sparks Fly Upward focuses on some of the major events that occurred in Berlin between 1938 and 1945. For each of these events, including Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938) and the Factory Action (February 27, 1943) Composer Cathy Lesser Mansfield has written an “historical companion.” The historical companion provides deeper information about the various events that take place during The Sparks Fly Upward, and can be used by audience members and teachers and others to deepen the historical education that is a natural result of attending a Sparks performance.

The Libretto

The characters in The Sparks Fly Upward are composite characters. Their story was woven together based on extensive research conducted by Composer Cathy Lesser Mansfield at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the Leo Baeck Institute in New York, and other Holocaust archives and survivor accounts. The libretto itself is fully footnoted, providing historical authenticity to the story.