'Perseverance' tells story of Squirrel Hill jeweler's journey from Holocaust camps to U.S.

During his nearly four decades at the G&S Jewelry Store in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, Melvin Goldman created custom jewelry. But the shiny pieces belied Goldman’s much-darker journey to reach the United States.

His story will be told onstage Saturday and Sunday at the New Hazlett Theater, when “Perseverance” opens.

The play is based on a book of the same name, written by Goldman and his daughter, Lee Goldman Kikel.

“He was born to a traditional Jewish family in Poland, witnessed the horrors and atrocities of the Holocaust, and endured unimaginable pain and anguish. He carried this darkness on his shoulders all his life,” she said.

In the decade before his arrival in the U.S. in 1950, Mieczyslaw (Melvin) Goldman saw family members murdered in the Nazi death camps. Somehow he managed to survive years in the Lodz Ghetto and Auschwitz.

Goldman Kikel said her father eventually began reflecting on his life’s experience, recording his story onto cassette tapes. They provided insight for both the book and the play, which was adapted for the stage by L.E. McCullough.

The play focuses on Goldman’s spirituality, love for humanity and the perseverance he employed as he worked to replace the darkness Goldman Kikel refers to with light, one shop customer at a time.

Goldman’s son-in-law, John Kikel, recalled an interaction in the 1990s when he complimented his father-in-law.

“I said to Melvin, ‘You look good,’ ” Kikel said. “His response was, ‘I look good on the outside, but I’m rotten on the inside.’ Later, I realized that, after all these years, he was coping with the agony of his Holocaust losses, his family and his youth.”

Pittsburgh’s Prime Stage Theatre was awarded a $10,000 Grant for Arts Projects from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help fund the production of “Perseverance.”

“L.E. McCullough’s adaptation brings my father’s character to life, while weaving strands of darkness and light as the play progresses,” Goldman Kikel said. “Audiences will leave with a renewed sense of hope.”

Goldman’s grandson, Jason, said listening to the cassette tapes gave him a much better understanding of what his grandfather and other Holocaust survivors endured.

“My grandfather survived an incomprehensible hell on earth,” Jason said. “He set foot in the United States with nearly nothing and gradually built his own American Dream. McCullough’s theatrical adaptation of this story follows his journey, highlighting his strength and resolute faith in humanity.”

“Perseverance” will be performed in person at 8 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are available at ci.ovationtix.com/36406.

The show also will have a streaming run from April 27 to May 7. Those tickets will go on sale in mid-April.