The first performances of this version were on March 31 and April 1 at the Temple of Music and Art in Tucson, Arizona, under the direction of veteran touring actor Kevin Johnson. Killick was the associate director, vocal direction was by Ali Renner, and the orchestra was conducted by Martin Majkut. In addition to the new scenes, it also featured projections of artwork from camp inmates (both children and adults) and photographs of Terezin, and a simple but powerful set that had as its dominating feature a large archway reading "Arbeit Macht Frei", which faced away from the audience to give them a sense of being in the camp. Ela Weissberger, a survivor from the original performances (who originally played the role of Kocour, or the Cat), spoke after each performance about her experiences in the cast of Brundibár and her thoughts as to its message. Similarly Killick spoke about the importance of history and said that "this happens to be about Czechoslovakia in the mid 1940s, but it could be about Cambodia, or Rwanda, or Darfur, it could be about anywhere there is oppression." For this production, the new scenes were done as a staged reading (the new material is written largely in pentameter, but was read as dialogue).