WILHELMSTRASSE: Comprised
of twelve scenes and structured non-linearly, the play traces the relationship
between Rica, a beautiful German girl and Samuel, a sarcastic New York Jew,
after their year-long acquaintance as students in New York.
In the three years since, she has moved back to Germany to pursue her law career and he,
remaining in New York,
has taken a position with a Foundation that repatriates stolen art from World
War II.
An exploratory mission to Austria has brought them together again in Berlin touring the historic city. But something has occurred on Samuel’s trip and the visit, originally longed-for by both, has been altered radically. Now compelled to see the notorious Nazi sights across the city, the play progresses with scenes at prominent Berlin locations: Unter de Linden, Ku’daam, Bebelplatz and finally, the street with the chief Command sites during the War years including the Reichstag, Luftwaffe and Hitler’s Bunker, Wilhelmstrasse.
Probing art, love and the struggle to comprehend and escape the Holocaust’s enduring stigma, the play is part travelogue and polemic on identity, religion and the Past’s binding ties.
