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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University will perform the American premiere of a moving play written by a survivor of the infamous World War II concentration camp, Auschwitz.

Called "Just One More Dance," the script by Ernst Levy has been performed in Scotland and Great Britain, but never before on American soil, said Scott Palmer, an OSU faculty member who will direct the play.

The university has made arrangements for a special series of daytime performances for every high school and eighth-grade student in Corvallis to attend. Four evening performances will be open to the public.

"It is a very powerful play," said Palmer. "Ernst Levy is a Czech Jew who was sent to Auschwitz and on to a labor camp for a year before he was liberated by the Allies. More than half of his family was killed in the camps, though, including his older brother, who was forced to dig his own grave before he was shot."

OSU will present the play, "Just One More Dance," for the public Tuesday through Friday, April 18-21, at the new Corvallis High School Theater (836 N.W. 11th St. in Corvallis). Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. and tickets are priced at $10 for general admission and $5 for seniors and students.

The performances will help kick off OSU's annual Holocaust Memorial Week, which begins April 24 on campus.

Palmer said the play has a fast, simple and non-traditional structure that features 21 short scenes and a total of 30 characters, portrayed by six actors.

"It is a visually charged, deeply emotional experience," Palmer said. "The script open with an introduction to Ernst Levy's home and family life at the beginning of World War II, then depicts how he and his family are herded onto a train for a destination unknown. It follows his experiences in the camps and concludes powerfully when Ernst himself addresses the audience in a recorded statement made in 2001 at his home in Glasgow."

Palmer, who saw one of the original performances of "Just One More Dance" in Scotland, called it "one of the most powerful plays I have ever seen."

"It's an enormous challenge for the actors and a very thought-provoking experience for the audience," he said. "The CHS auditorium is absolutely awesome - one of the best theaters in the entire state, and I have seen most of them. It is a real gem."

The OSU cast includes Matthew Deboodt, an OSU undergraduate student from Prineville; Robert Hirsch, a Corvallis actor and writer; Eric Nepom, an OSU graduate student in marine biology from West Linn; Paul Pistey, an OSU graduate in theater arts from Tualatin; Leonora Rianda, an OSU staff member in the Department of Philosophy; and Marza Warsinske, a student from Philomath High School.

Palmer is directing the play, assisted by Joey Nicola, an undergraduate student in business and theater arts.

The cast and crew will perform two free shows during the day on Wednesday and Thursday, April 19-20, at the CHS theater for as many as 2,400 local high school students. An additional 600 Corvallis eighth-graders will see the play Friday morning.

"It is certainly an ambitious undertaking, but one that we feel is important for both the University Theatre program and for local high school and middle school students," Palmer said. "This kind of outreach gives them an opportunity to experience a powerful stage performance, and learn something about history and culture at the same time."