New to the Tampa International Fringe Festival this year is a local theatre troupe the New Tampa Players, who are known for their fun musicals featuring large youth ensemble casts. This is not one of those shows.
Sending Down the Sparrows is a story based on the Nazi youth and reactions to the program of eliminating the weak or useless members of society.
This is a heavy show that has the potential to make you think but won’t offer you any new information. As a documentary it was very nice, but the commentary part was weak. Fortunately the topic itself makes one consider all of the many implications about a society who doesn’t cherish all of its citizens.
There is an excellent speech about the horrors of the gas chambers that was excellently done and very well placed. I would have liked for there to be an after-bow statement explaining briefly the realities that were shown in the play, and the audience was waiting for such a speech as everyone sat still and gave questioning glances to each other to confirm that there was nothing further.
This kind of show needs to be seen, and the topic needs to be known. It is certainly worth it, and would be a great educational tool. The US Congress established a day between April 28 and May 5 to be the “Days of Remembrance” as the nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust. This year the day fell on May 2nd making the play particularly timely.
New Tampa Players have done a good job embracing the Fringe style of a fairly minimalistic set. Shows run back to back to back so strike and set up need to be able to be done quickly. Their set up is simple and effective.
This show is at the HCC Studio Theater on the Ybor campus at 1411 E 11th Ave, Tampa, FL 33605 and is part of the Third Annual Tampa International Fringe Festival which runs from May 1-11, 2019.
