Be transported to a different time and place this weekend with the Penn State School of Theatre's production of Kindertransport.

In the late 1930s, England and Germany came to an agreement to help Jewish children in German-occupied countries escape a cruel fate at the hands of the Nazis. This system, called the Kindertransport, sent about 10,000 children to England to live with foster parents. The children varied in age from 9 to 16 years old and only about 10 percent were ever reunited with their birth parents.

The play Kindertransport, by Diane Samuels, is based on the stories of real-life Kinders.

The play centers around Evelyn, a Kinder who, in the 1970s, is an adult with a daughter of her own. Evelyn's daughter discovers her mother's secret past, and the action moves between grown Evelyn telling her story in the 1970s and 9-year-old Eva living it in the 1930s.

Samuels went to a conference held by the Kindertransport Association, which inspired her to write the play.

The last conference held by the association was last June in Philadelphia where more than 200 Kinders, along with family members, united for a few days of workshops and remembrance. Cary Libkin, professor of theatre and the director of this performance, was there.

"That was invaluable," he said. "I just can't express how important that was. That was probably the most important kind of research that I could do."

Libkin said that Samuels' piece is actually an amalgamation of three different stories and three different interviews, which she combined into one for her play.

"They're based on real people, but the play is fictional," he said. Libkin said the historical significance is only one level of the story.

"It's a memory play," he said, "and this woman, the younger version of this woman who left Germany when she nine, is also there and so the play takes place both in the present and in the past."

The performance will be in the Pavilion Theatre, which is smaller than the Playhouse Theatre where most School of Theatre performances are held, and is also shaped like a circle with arena seating.

Libkin said the set up of the theatre enhances the ideas of memories as images and also allows for the audience to serve as the background of the piece with the actor in the foreground.

"The backdrop is the human experience," he said. "So as you're sitting here watching the play, not only are you watching the play, but you're watching those people over there watch the play, and that reminds you that this is a social event and everybody in the audience is going through the experience at the same time."

Playing Evelyn is Laura Ames (graduate-theatre), who said she hopes the performance helps people match faces with historical events.

"The play brings the human aspects and reveals a lot more than just getting a history lesson," she said.

Rebecca Miller (freshman-musical theatre) who is playing Eva -- the young Evelyn -- said she hopes the audience leaves with an understanding of the situation and questions about the morality and importance of the Kindertransport system.

A preview will be given at 8:00 tonight in the Pavilion Theatre. Tickets are $7.50. The play will run at 8 p.m. tomorrow to Saturday, April 5, excluding Sunday. Tickets are $10.50 for the general public and $8.50 for children and students. A matinee performance will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday April 5. Tickets for this performance are $9.50 for the general public and $6.50 for students and children.