Happy Zamenhof Day.
Today is the birthday of L.L. Zamenhof, the revered creator of the Esperanto language.
To celebrate, Exploring Esperanto's YouTube channel creator and curator Alex Miller recently released a feature–length video presentation of Ĵenja Amis' play, 1910 (Mil naǔcent dek) — as recorded before a live audience during the course of the Universala Kongreso in Montréal back in August.
I am excited for this moment, as Alena Adler — the Twitch live-streamer who is also my best friend inside the Esperanto community — both directed the play and played a small rôle therein. And, yes, I am hecking proud of Alena. So hecking proud.
Briefly, 1910 (Mil naŭcent dek) is built around the eyewitness account of one William W. Mann — a British Esperantist — who was present when Zamenhof himself attended the 1910 Internacia Esperanto Kongreso in Washington, D.C. (Amazingly, you can view and read that in the October 1910 issue of La Brita Esperantisto, accessible on the Internet Archive. Once you have the above link open, go straight to page 184 to read Mr. Mann's account. You can also download this issue as a PDF to read offline.)
In adapting Mr. Mann's report for 1910 (Mil naŭcent dek), Ĵenja Amis 'resurrected' William Mann (played by Garry Evans) to present his account as a prelego or talk to the present-day Montréal audience. That one-person prelego — occasionally paused for questions and answers — is almost all of the play, save for an epilogue in which he shares with his caregiver the dream that he just had about sometime in the future... 2022?
(I hope this brief summary will help those still learning Esperanto to enjoy the play despite the lack of English subtitles; hopefully this will get rectified soon).
But enough of my words. It's time we let my friend introduce what you're about to watch, followed by the play itself.
Be sure afterwards to visit the Montréal UK website to view a full image gallery of the production.
Bonus: The playwright herself on one song she unearthed in her research for the play.
Videos (from the top) 2022 Alena Adler for Esperanto-USA; 2022 Ĵenja Amis / Alex Miller / Exploring Esperanto; 2022 Ĵenja Amis for Esperanto-USA.
