Bernard Zell student debuts on Broadway

Halloween week was a whirlwind for seven-year-old Remy Cohen and his family–in seven days, he went from a surprise audition for a Broadway play to his first performance as Heini Floge in Leopoldstadt .

Remy’s father, Ben Cohen–a former Broadway performer himself–received a text message from a friend about a casting call for a young boy of Jewish descent, and immediately thought of Remy. His son had voiced an interest in becoming an actor after watching a performance of Lookingglass Alice at the Lookingglass Theatre, where his mother Aurélia is the Director of Development.

After being invited to audition, Remy and Ben flew to New York City, where his creativity helped him stand out. When asked to walk across a room as if the floor was lava, Remy walked normally and explained that he was wearing a “lava protection suit.”

The next day, Remy got the part.

“We talked to Remy and told him that he would be leaving his classmates and school, spending a long time apart from his brothers, and wouldn’t be at his house–it’s a big commitment,” Ben said.

Remy’s response was simple: “Can I go now?”

The answer was yes. Remy and his father immediately flew to Manhattan so he could start rehearsals. Three days later, Remy was on stage for his first show–the first time he’d ever performed on stage aside from Chanukah concerts at his school, Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Jewish Day School.

Ben described it as “beautiful and painful” to watch his son act against the backdrop of the world wars and the Holocaust. Remy’s great-great-grandfather had been an actor in Yiddish theater in Europe before he was killed in Auschwitz, while Remy’s great-grandparents both survived Auschwitz.

The play hits close to home for Ben, diving into the life of a Jewish family living in Vienna from 1899 through 1955. “Things the actors say on stage sound like things I or my family members have said about being comfortable in America and how the past is the past, but there are also throughlines of ongoing anxiety about what could happen,” he said. “I remember talking to my grandmother about Europe before the Holocaust and she said it’s a lot like it is here now.”

As for Remy, the intricacies of the Holocaust are not explicitly discussed with the child actors, although he is in a scene with a Nazi character. Regardless of the serious subject matter, “the other actors take good care of him on and off stage,” Ben said.

Back at home, his teachers and peers at Bernard Zell are very proud of their budding star. “Remy’s constant creativity and genuine kindness to his friends made him such a joy to teach and a cherished member of our classroom community,” said Carly Silverstein, Remy’s first-grade teacher. “Even though our class misses him dearly, we are so proud of Remy for pursuing his passions. Kol ha’kavod , Remy!”