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The Week in Germany: Culture

February 29, 2008

U.S. Premiere in Worcester, Massachusetts for Marc P. Smith’s Play, A Journey to Kreisau

After international performances in Germany and Poland in 2007, Massachusetts audiences got to attend producer/playwright Marc P. Smith’s play presented on home ground. On Monday-Wednesday, February 18, 19, and 20, 2008, at 8 pm, A Journey to Kreisau premiered at Fiddlers’ Green/The Hibernian Cultural Centre, 19 Temple Street, Worcester.

These three performances marked a significant milestone in this nearly five-year creative project. The play tells the story of a young German couple, Helmuth James and Freya von Moltke, who were at the center of German resistance to the Nazis. Helmuth James was executed by the Nazis in January, 1945, but his widow eventually made her way, with her sons, to Vermont where she still lives, at age 97. She and her family have provided invaluable cooperation to Smith with his work on this project.

Marc P. Smith and Freya von Moltke, at her home in Vermont, 2003
© Susan L. Smith

A first draft of the play had three stage readings in January and February of 2005 at Foothills Theatre, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, and Smith College. Now the revised play again had stage reading performances in what Smith calls “a small but growing genre of theatre, ‘Page to Page Theatre,’ in which the actors, with scripts in hand, use their skills with words to create the imagery, the emotions, and the meaning of the play.”

The English-language performance in Hamburg, Germany in March of 2007 was part of a number of events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Helmuth James von Moltke. Later in the year, on October 26, there was a second performance; the same cast that performed in Hamburg traveled to Kreisau (Krzyzowa), now in Poland, and the former estate of the von Moltke family, where many underground meetings were held. That estate is now a center for the study of democratic values. Finally, on November 17, A Journey to Kreisau was presented in Lodz, Poland at Clark University’s affiliate branch there as part of their commencement activities.

For central New England audiences, this premiere offered the opportunity to experience a story that has been little known and to learn about the strength and humanity of an extraordinary couple in terrifying times.

On Monday, February 18, the German Consul General, Dr. Wolfang Vorwerk, attended the play and made some brief remarks. He emphasized the reasons for honouring the resistance:

"It is not to comfort those who didn not resist and it is not to comfort those of us who try to come to terms with the grave legacy left by our forefathers. We honor those men and women who resisted to show our children -- by example -- that elementary humane and civil courage have been possible, even during the darkest time of our history. This is an essential part of our Holocaust and democracy education."

Also present were the Honorary Consul of Poland, Marek Lesniewski-Laas and Jim McGovern, the local member of the House of Representatives.

Links:

www.bluepumpkinproductions.com

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