Amy Oestreicher discusses her new play WE RE-MEMBER, part of HERSTORY 3: JOURNEY WOMEN, a festival of new work by emerging female writers. Interview by Natalie Osborne.

Q: How long have you been with 365 Women a Year?

A: I have been with 365 for one year – It’s my first time being involved with such an amazing group of women, and it’s been so wonderful to be a part of this community and see these stories come to light!

Q: Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind We Re-Member?

It definitely started with my Grandma, who was an amazing seamstress. I knew that as a child, because of the beautiful coats and garments she’d make us for temple. Later I learned that she was also a holocaust survivor from Czechoslovakia, which explained her accent. Even later I learned she had survived the death camps of Auschwitz through her sewing, which put her fabrics and garments in a different light. When my grandma passed, I wanted to know more about her story and remember her.

These two sisters in We Re-Member are conflicted, asking the question: how do we wear our past?

Jessie and Sam are sisters who discover boxes left by their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the Lower East Side after the war, and with her husband, started one of the most successful sewing corporations in the Garment District. Sam, the older sister striving for uniqueness, and Jessie, the younger sibling longing for memory, are drawn towards piecing the fabric together in conflicting ways that threaten to tear them apart.

My grandparents, HANNAH and IRVING STOCHEL, after arriving on the Lower East Side by ship after the holocaust, founded the MYRA Corporation, one of the most successful sewing corporations on the Lower East Side. I’m doing a TEDx talk on their story in April!!!

Q: What were some of the challenges you faced while writing this play?

A: I knew I wanted to honor my grandma but I wasn’t sure how to do that. Little did I know that these sisters’ disagreement of whether to preserve the fabrics as they are, or deconstruct them in order to reassemble them differently, a conflict of philosophies, was really a battle I was going through myself – What will allow their grandparents’ memories to flourish? Is a legacy more valuable once it’s broken apart and repurposed, or kept as is? How do we re-member the pieces of our lives and honor those who came before us? So I battled with how to get all this down to 10 minutes!!!

Q:  In the title of the piece, you describe We Re-Member as a “10-page Forget-Me-Not Play,” can you tell us more about that?

A: The play is about the struggle to preserve, to not forget. I think the lesson is that there is no wrong way to remember, as long as it is in our hearts.

Q: You’re also a performer and a visual artist, how does your work in other media influence your writing and vise-versa?

A: Extremely visually! Especially because I discovered art as a way of healing and expressing what I couldn’t capture through words – I’m actually working on a new piece which incorporates live painting on Stage – eventually, I want to expand on this play, and have the two sisters, who first fight over the best way to put their grandmothers memory together, in order for it to live on, in an actual quilt or tapestry.

I always consider myself foremost a performer, because that’s what I grew up living and loving – musical theatre! As a playwright, it definitely has helped give me perspective on conveying emotions, conflicts and dynamics onstage. I still perform Gutless and Grateful, my one woman musical, all over the country, and writing that was really my first experience performing my own work!

Q: In the play the Grandmother is an immigrant, and a Holocaust survivor. Why do you think stories like this are important based on what’s happening in our country right now?

A: Because we have to remember, in all of this political tumult and conflict, that these stories we hear about in the news, of families being torn apart, these are really people, sons, daughters, wives that experience heartbreak and loss like every one of us. The breaking apart of families, the loss of loved ones, is something that we can’t continue to happen unnaturally.

My grandparents, came here and started a successful sewing corporation as immigrants. They contributed to society passionately, wholeheartedly, and were an inspiration to all they knew. I think it’s important to honor this, with the debates on Immigration in our country right now.

Q: What would you like the audience to walk away with after watching your play?

A: I want them to think about a relative, or someone, something they’ve lost in their own life, and make a decision that’s best for them – because there’s no right way to connect and honor a legacy. There’s not one way to pass on a story. It’s however we feel that we can bring their stories to light. There are many ways to sew, to re-stitch and re-member.

Q: Are there any thoughts or pieces of advice you’d like to give to your fellow writers or the theatre community at large?

A: Find what your passionate about and just start writing – from anywhere – later but figure out what speaks to you right now. Don’t think about what you should be writing. Honesty is what makes art. Or at least it’s the building blocks!

You can see We Re-Member during the HERSTORY Festival, March 9th and 10th at the Institute Library in New Haven. You can reserve your tickets ahead of time here. Tickets will also be available at the door for a $10 suggested donation. If you would like to support HERSTORY by making a small donation, click here or visit our Cafepress Store.