Thought-provoking without being abstract, historical without being condescending, Silence Not is a heady, beautifully written play. Worth reading several times, it strikes a lovely balance between poetry and reality, bringing to life a diverse cast of characters in a challenging time period. Cooper reminds us, in the closing lines, that true resistance to oppression comes from the act of love—and to love wholeheartedly is the most radical act any person can commit.
-Claire Rudy Foster from ForeWord Reviews. Claire Rudy Foster was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Claire’s work has also been recognized by Best of the Web. She operates the weekly online publication WORK Literary Magazine, and is also pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing/Fiction at Pacific University.
Rooted in early twentieth century Europe and strikingly similar to contemporary struggles all over the globe, Cynthia Cooper’s Silence Not, A Love Story offers readers and audiences the always necessary integration of art and politics. She’s a skillful playwright who uses history, with its relentless examination of our lives, as a rich source for theater.
-Judith Arcana poet, writer and scholar. She is the author of What if Your Mother, 4th Period English and Grace Paley’s Life Stories, A Literary Biography
Cynthia Cooper is a powerful playwright. Silence Not, A Love Story will spark a fabulous discussion on resistance today. Gisa and Paul have incredibla moral courage and life-long-love that sustains them through a terrible period in history when society failed. Each of us needs to consider our character at every moment-are we perpetrator, victim, helper, bystander, or resister? Every high school student should read this play.
-Maureen McNeil, Director of Education, The Anne Frank Center USA
Cynthia Cooper’s Silence Not, A Love Story, a riveting coming of age story told in play format is more than just a love story, or just another chapter in the history of the anti-Nazi movement. In this refreshing story-telling format, Cooper offers a simple call to arm to those who view the glass half full, and the mountains too steep. Gisa Peiper, the central character of Silence Not, A Love Story, is young, naive and passionate. Her courage entralls us, dares us. Cooper’s story is a story of courage, for all ages, all sexes, all cultures-reminding us, that courage sees no boundaries.
-Janis F. Kearney, former Personal Diarist to President William J. Clinton.
Author, Cotton Field of Dreams: A Memoir; and Something to Write Home About: Memories From a Presidential Diarist
A new genre of works have emerged over the past several years, stories of resistance to the Nazi regime and of the struggles to maintain one’s dignity and decency in the wake of a totalitarian regime bent on the destruction of segments of the populations including the Jews. This powerful play recreates in moving drama those struggles and the desperate attempt of good people to remain moral in the most immoral of societies. Powerful, poignant and penetrating, it will move those who read it and cause them to ponder the sources of courage and resistance.
-Michael Berenbaum
Professor of Jewish Studies
Director of the Sigi Zieirng Institute: Exploring the Ethical And Religious Implications of the Holocaust
American Jewish University Los Angeles, California
Founder and publisher of Gihon River Press
