New play honors Polish dancer who became a Holocaust heroine

Jay Handelman, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·2 min read
Katherine Michelle Tanner created and stars in the one-woman play “Mann’s Last Dance” about a Polish-Jewish dancer who inspired an uprising among prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Katherine Michelle Tanner created and stars in the one-woman play “Mann’s Last Dance” about a Polish-Jewish dancer who inspired an uprising among prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Katherine Michelle Tanner, who won praise and awards for her performance in the one-woman play “The Amish Project,” returns to the stage this week in a new piece that she has written, choreographed and composed.

Tanner stars in “Mann’s Last Dance,” about the life of Polish Jewish ballerina Franceska Mann, who is said to have inspired an uprising among prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp after she killed a Nazi guard and wounded another. She was eventually killed herself.

A photo of Polish-Jewish dancer Franceska Mann who is said to have killed a Nazi guard at Auschwitz and inspired an uprising among prisoners before she was killed.
A photo of Polish-Jewish dancer Franceska Mann who is said to have killed a Nazi guard at Auschwitz and inspired an uprising among prisoners before she was killed.

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The actress says the piece exposes the risks one woman will take to stand up to authority while facing the most difficult choice between life and death.

Mann grew up in Warsaw, Poland studying dance, and at 22 placed fourth in an international dance competition. At the start of World War II, various histories indicated she performed in a Warsaw nightclub and was a prisoner in the Warsaw Ghetto before she was taken to Auschwitz. She died in 1943.

Tanner, a graduate of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory, has performed frequently in Sarasota and Tampa Bay theaters. She operates her Tree Fort Productions, a production company and studio that offers classes for all ages in a variety of performing and visual arts. While developing this new play, she also has been working on her second album, “The Mississippi.” An album release concert is planned for Nov. 12.

Blake Walton, an actor and director who co-founded the SaraSolo Festival, is directing the production, which runs Sept. 9-Oct. 2 at Tree Fort Productions, inside the Crossings at Siesta Key Shopping Center, at 3501 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.  Tickets start at $40.

For more information: 941-544-2276; eventbrite.com/e/manns-last-dance-tickets-399507215837

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Actress honors a Polish dancer and Holocaust heroine