Actors gain painful look into the past

By Yvette Craig

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Updated: Saturday, Mar. 17, 2001 at 22:25 CST

FORT WORTH — It’s dress rehearsal at Sage & Silo Theater, and actor Kit Hussey is in the uniform of a Nazi SS captain.

Removing the costume’s black hat and lowering his eyes, Hussey asks 80-year-old Lena Factor to describe how Nazi soldiers treated her in the concentration camps.

[…]

“Now, you all can ask anything more. I was there. I was one of the first to go in and the last one to get out.”

[…]

In a thick Polish accent, she tells the players about a moment in Auschwitz that haunts her.

She was shoved into a shower stall with about 200 other women. An echo bounced off the walls as the door was slammed shut. They stood bald and naked, shivering with fear.

She held her breath and waited. Cold water spewed from the shower heads instead of deadly gas. Wails of disbelief, followed by cries of joy filled the chamber.

[…]