Dimensions in Testimony is already available to museum guests, but the current setup is limited to a small number of participants. The new theater will accommodate 68 people in a single session, with movable seats and a microphone visitors can use to ask questions directly through the platform.
The experience currently includes testimony from four Holocaust survivors. The recordings were made in 2021, and three of the four survivors have since died. Stillman said a grant will help the museum add recordings from two additional survivors.
“This museum used to be an old bank building,” Stillman said. “What used to be the old vault will be converted into the new Immersive Theater that can host over 60 people. With the theater, entire groups of school kids can hear the questions and participate.”
The theater will also show new introductory films about each survivor, a wrap-up film following each testimony, and an introductory film about Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
The renovation’s second major component, The Wiesel Experience, will take shape on the third floor.