The Holocaust might be too large an historical event to fully comprehend.

“The Lucky Star,” through Feb. 8, Pennsylvania Playhouse, tells how it affected one family.

“The Lucky Star” is a true story, based on the book, “Every Day Lasts a Year: A Jewish Family’s Correspondence from Poland,” by Richard Hollander.

The book and the first half of the play are created from letters that were sent to Hollander’s father Joseph from his family in Poland before and during World War II.

The stage setting is bare, with the only decorations being 50 or so manuscript letters hanging from the ceiling. The action takes place on a round platform lifted slightly above the stage. Many of the actors who represent family members sit on chairs surrounding the back of the stage when they are not on the platform. Many of the cast members play multiple characters.

The play opens with Richard (Brad Campbell) giving a standard book talk to the audience. While he does this, the events described in the letters are acted out, centering around his late father Joseph (Joshua Steinhouse). Richard breaks away from his talk to make comments during the family’s interactions.

Joseph is based in New York City with his first wife Felicja (Amy Oselkin) and their ward Arnold (Katie James). Joseph is trying to get the rest of the family out of Poland to escape the Nazi invasion.

The family consists of his mother Berta (Amy Cramer), his sisters Dola (Kelly Herbert James), Klara (Amy Oselkin) and Mania (Melissa Miller), Mania’s husband Salo (Jerry Brucker) and Klara’s daughters Genka (Katie James) and Lusia (Ericka Csencsits).

Joseph is constantly defeated. His family refuses to flee their comfortable lifestyle in Poland days before the Nazis invade. He is denied citizenship initially and on appeal. The family also narrowly misses a move to Venezuela. Still, Richard tries to put a positive spin on their history, portraying it as a stirring story of triumph.

In the play’s second half, Richard is challenged by his son Craig (Cameron Kunsman). We learn the backstory of the book. Richard found the letters in a suitcase after the death of his father and second wife (Richard’s mother) in a car accident. Craig was only four when this happened and can barely remember it, but knows that the news was traumatic. Through the interaction with his son, Richard is forced to confront his feelings.

The play, directed by Sarah Elizabeth Yorke, is difficult, not only because of its theme. The many different characters and changes in time and scenes require the theater-goer’s close attention. The letter writers had to deal with Nazi censorship, so occurrences and their corresponding emotions had to be carefully concealed. And there was little occasion for joy.

The talented cast makes the most of the dramatic moments. Campbell expertly transforms from a rather faceless narrator to a man dramatically coming to terms with his family and those who are deceased.

The letters did not tell the complete story. Although the meeting of Richard and his second wife Vita (Kelly Herbert James) is shown in the play, the existing letters never explained the divorce of his first wife.

“The Lucky Star” is not just a story of the Holocaust. It is an exploration of memories, legacies and how the past never leaves us.

There is an historical exhibit in the theater lobby provided by the Holocaust Resource Center of the Lehigh Valley.

“The Lucky Star” Jan. 25 performance was canceled because of the snowstorm.

“The Lucky Star,” 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23, 24, 30, 31, Feb. 6, 7; 3 p.m. Jan. 25, Feb. 1, 8, Pennsylvania Playhouse, 390 Illick’s Mill Road, Bethlehem. 610-865-6665, http://www.paplayhouse.org/