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Three Girls of Shanghai

Three Girls of Shanghai introduces audiences to the life stories of three women who grew up in Shanghai during the Second World War. Although the women are all Jewish and from Shanghai, they each grew up in different Jewish communities in the city: the Sephardic community, the stateless Russian community, and the refugee community. The play/film is intended to highlight differences and similarities among the three women and the three Jewish communities. As the women discuss their lives, they broach such topics as Jewish identity, racism, colonialism, and antisemitism. Approximately 80 – 85 percent of the text of the fictional Zoom conversation is drawn from the many interviews that historian Dr. Kevin Ostoyich conducted with each of the women individually over the span of many years. Given the global rise of antisemitic rhetoric and violence in recent years, the filmmakers hope that what the women say about antisemitism resonates with young audiences. Moreover, the filmmakers hope that viewers of all ages will be inspired by the message Ester Shifren conveys in the song she has composed and performed for the film: life is always worth the struggle to survive.

  • Pamela Sterling
    Director
  • Kari Anne Innes
    Writer
  • Kevin Ostoyich
    Writer
  • Kari Anne Innes
    Producer
  • Kevin Ostoyich
    Producer
  • Angela Giron
    Producer
  • Angela Giron
    Key Cast
    "Liliane Willens"
  • Kari Anne Innes
    Key Cast
    "Helga Silberberg"
  • Dawn Jeffory-Nelson
    Key Cast
    "Ester Shifren"
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Filmed Stage Play, Human Rights, Women, Religious, Historical
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 23 minutes 44 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 24, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    2,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Pamela Sterling

Pamela Sterling (Director) is a professional actor, director and playwright. Before arriving at Arizona State University, she served as Artistic Director for The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, MO, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Idaho Theatre for Youth and as Executive Director for the Muny/Student Theatre Project in St. Louis, MO. Her plays are published by Dramatic Publishing Company and New Scripts, Inc. She has acted and/or directed for such professional theatres as Childsplay Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, The Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, PA, and Theatre Project Company in St. Louis. She has also been dramaturge for the Cincinnati Playhouse production of Little M3edea, and new play development workshops for the Kennedy Center New Visions/New Voices program, the University of Texas-Austin, and Write Now, formerly The Bonderman New Play Development and Symposium in conjunction with the Indiana Repertory Theatre, and Childsplay Theatre in Tempe, AZ.

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Director Statement

Interest in history and social justice have always informed my work, so "Three Girls of Shanghai" was a powerful draw. I know from experience how challenging it is to cull hundreds of hours of interviews into the engaging narrative structure of "Three Girls of Shanghai." I commend Kevin Ostoyich and Kari-Anne Innes for their impressive work. Kari Anne is also an excellent actor! The equally splendid performances of Angela Giron and Dawn Jeffory-Nelson have made "Three Girls" a powerful, moving and sometimes humorous production that I hope will reach audiences throughout the U.S.A. and beyond.

My interest in “verbatim theatre" began when I was teaching teens at Seattle Children’s Theatre. Searching for “age appropriate” material I suggested students write monologues based on their personal stories. Later as director of a touring theatre company in St. Louis I wrote a play based on interviews with teen single mothers then wrote and directed another play drawn from interviews with company actors about making difficult choices.

Years later I was inspired by seeing Anna Devere Smith’s pioneering example of verbatim theatre, "Crown Heights." Also inspired by Devere Smith’s work, the Metro Theatre Company in St. Louis soon after asked me to collaborate with them to collect interviews from people all over the state of Missouri and to direct a play composed by playwright Eileen Cherry from their stories. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, "The People Keep Comin’" toured through the Midwest for two years.

I continued my interest in this genre when I joined the theatre faculty of Arizona State University. As part of my tenure packet I included plays I wrote for the Historyonics Theatre Company in St. Louis, which used only primary source material such as interviews and journal entries to explore the lives of historical characters.

For 9 years I collaborated with ASU students to devise and direct (Dis)Orientation, composed from student interviews about their “freshman experiences” thus returning to the kind of work I created in Seattle long ago