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Here There Are Blueberries
ABOUT
By Moisés Kaufman & Amanda Gronich
Conceived & Directed by Moisés Kaufman
A co-production with Tectonic Theater Project
2023/24 Season
April 17, 2024—June 16, 2024
The performance will run approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.
Performances this week
FOR THE CULTURE
Tectonic Theater Project and New York Theatre Workshop are partnering with the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE), the production’s Content & Conversation partner, to curate a series of post-show discussions and engagement events for the play where leading ethicists, scholars, and audiences can discuss the complex issues raised in the play—and consider their relevance for today. Conversations take place directly after the performance, and a ticket to that evenings performance is required for entry.
These discussions will be held following performances on Thursday April 25, Wednesday May 1, Tuesday May 7, Friday May 10, Thursday May 16, Thursday May 23, Wednesday May 29, Tuesday June 4, and Wednesday June 12. Check out event descriptions and participants here.
ABOUT FASPE
FASPE challenges its professionals to recognize and exercise their ethical and leadership responsibilities as influencers. FASPE’s distinctive approach is to examine the roles and behavior of individual professionals in Germany and elsewhere between 1933 and 1945 as an initial framework for approaching ethical responsibility in the professions today. Each year, FASPE awards 80 to 90 Fellowships to graduate students and early-career professionals in Business, Design & Technology, Journalism, Law, Medicine, and Seminary. The Fellowships begin with intense study in Germany and Poland where FASPE takes advantage of the urgency created by the power of place to translate the history into the present. Visit faspe-ethics.org to learn more.
CONTENT TRANSPARENCY
In an effort to care for our community, we’re sharing details about this production that may be sensitive for members of our audience. The following information may reveal plot points.
Here There Are Blueberries engages with the subject of Nazis and the historical events surrounding the Holocaust. The production contains loud sounds and photographic flash and is recommended for ages 12+. If you’d like to speak with someone on our staff for more details, please reach out to LetsChat@NYTW.org.
CHEAPTIX & GROUPS
Theatre isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity—a vital part of the culture that should be available to all. In an effort to make our work affordable to as many people as possible, we launched our CheapTix program. At the first two performances of every NYTW production, every seat is available for just $25. And if you’re under 25, over 65, an artist, or a resident of the East Village and Lower East Side, you can snag a $25 seat via our CheapTix Rush at any performance. View full info here!
Looking to organize a group? Email groups@nytw.org for availability and pricing.
Not on our list? Sign up here to receive updates and announcements!
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Karl Höcker & Others
Scott Barrow has been working with Tectonic Theater Project for almost 20 years as an actor, devisor, writer and senior teacher with the Moment Work Institute. He collaborated on the creation of 33 Variations from Georgetown to Broadway, on Uncommon Sense, The Laramie Project Epilogue; Ten Years Later, Treatment and Data, and now Here There Are Blueberries; working as a devisor on each piece and performing in the productions. Scott leads Moment Work workshops for Tectonic across the country and is an author on the company’s book of the same name. His plays Full of Grace and The Outcasts of Penikese Island received productions, and his adaptation of Geraldine Brooks’ March is in development with the author. At New York Theatre Workshop he premiered in Paul Rudnick’s Valhalla, was in the Peter and the Star Catcher ensemble, and has done fight direction for 7 productions. Scott performed at Arena Stage, the Arden Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare, Hartford Stage, the Huntington, the Wilma Theater, the Mint, Studio Theatre, New Rep, the Geva, the Olney, Portland Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Urban Stages, Trinity Rep, and Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, where he is an Artistic Associate. Scott is also the artistic director of Stages on the Sound; a not-for profit pairing working theatre artists with schools in the tristate area. MFA Brandeis University.
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Charlotte Schünzel & Others
Nemuna Ceesay (she/her/hers) is an actor/director/educator based in New York. Selected theater credits: Actors Theatre of Louisville (Loving and Loving), Shakespeare Theatre Company (Here There Are Blueberries), The Shed (Straight Line Crazy), Second Stage (Patience), Two River Theater (Three Sisters), PlayMakers Rep (The Christians and Tartuffe), Woolly Mammoth, A.R.T., The Public Theater (What To Send Up… tour), and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2015/2016 seasons). Selected TV credits: “Bull,” “Broad City,” “Instinct,” “Younger,” “FBI,” “Prodigal Son,” and “Katy Keene.” Selected Directing credits: The Kitchen (Uncle!), Playwrights Horizons (Amusements), 66th Obie Awards, Clubbed Thumb Winterworks (Reply All), Associate Director of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning A Strange Loop on Broadway. 2022 Clubbed Thumb New Play Directing Fellow. Part of the inaugural cohort of The Workshop: North America’s first arts fellowship centering the work of JOCISM (Jews of Color, Jewish-Indigenous, Sephardi & Mizrahi) artists & culture-makers. Founder and Creative Director of an all BIPOC training program called The Blueprint. MFA in acting from American Conservatory.
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Judy Cohen & Others
In a career spanning more than five decades, Kathleen Chalfant’s performances on stage, screen and television have garnered her praise and acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Perhaps best known for her shattering portrayal of Vivian Bearing, a scholar battling cancer, in Wit, she received the Obie, the Drama Desk, the Lucille Lortel, the Outer Critics Circle, the Ovation, Connecticut Critics Circle, the Garland and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for her work. Broadway: Angels in America (Tony and Drama Desk nom.), Racing Demon, Dance with Me. She most recently appeared in The Year of Magical Thinking with Keen Company, Long Wharf, and Theatre Aspen, as well as the upcoming film Familiar Touch. NY/Off-Broadway: A Woman of the World, Wit (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Connecticut Critics Circle, Obie Awards), Hellzapoppin’ with Yvonne Rainer, Four Quartets (BAM), For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday, A Walk in the Woods (Drama Desk nom.), Talking Heads (Obie Award), Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Nine Armenians (Drama Desk nomination), Henry V (Callaway Award). Television/Film: “The Affair,” “Rescue Me,” “The Blacklist,” “Elementary,” “High Maintenance,” “House of Cards,” “Madam Secretary,” “Duplicity,” “Old,” “Kinsey,” “Lackawanna Blues.”
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U/S Karl, Rainer & Others
Regional: Fiddler on the Roof (Olney Theatre Center); Love All; Here There Are Blueberries (La Jolla Playhouse); Are You There? (44th Humana Festival); A Christmas Carol; Dracula (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Film: The Folly of Paris or the Original Snub; Box of Chocolates; Happy Yummy Chicken. Education: M.F.A. UC-San Diego.
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Tilman Taube & Others
Jonathan Raviv is an Emmy award winner and original cast member of the 10-time Tony and Grammy Award winning musical, The Band’s Visit. He has extensive Off-Broadway and Regional Theatre credits, having worked at some of the most prestigious theaters in the country. Some works of note include: Monsoon Wedding directed by Mira Nair at St. Ann’s Warehouse, The Band’s Visit directed by David Cromer at The Barrymore and Atlantic Theatre, Kismet directed by Lonny Price at Granada Theatre, The Humans directed by Aaron Posner at Olney Theatre Center, Arabian Nights directed by Mary Zimmerman at Berkeley Rep, Lady Madeline (based on The Fall of the House of Usher) directed by Jessica Thebus at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and The Light in the Piazza directed by Bartlett Sher at The Goodman. Jonathan has been fortunate enough to originate roles in several world premieres and has made a career of championing new works. He has also had several guest star appearances in major network television and films and has done voice over, commercial and motion capture work. Jonathan can also be heard on the original cast albums of The Band’s Visit and The Lightning Thief.
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Melita Maschmann & Others
NYTW Debut. Erika is a two time Helen Hayes Award winner for Outstanding Lead Actress and a Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Member. Regional: Here There Are Blueberries (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Tiny Beautiful Things (Baltimore Center Stage); Confederates and The Cymbeline Project (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); An Octoroon, Lenny & Lou and Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company); Crying On Television, Queens Girl in Africa and The Soul Collector (Everyman Theater); In Darfur (Theater J); Fences (Ford’s Theater); Book Club Play and Pippin (Round House Theatre); The Father (Studio Theater); The Bluest Eye (Theater Alliance); Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! The Musical!, Knuffle Bunny, The Brand New Kid, OLIVERrio and Barrio Grrrl! (The Kennedy Center); Clybourne Park (Pioneer Theater Company); Cinderella, Looking for Roberto Clemente and Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (Imagination Stage). Erika studied at the University of Maryland, College Park, LAMDA and Labyrinth Theater Company. www.erikarose.com
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U/S Rebecca, Charlotte, Melita
Anna Shafer (she/they) is a proud Philadelphia native who has lived and worked as an actor and teacher in Washington, DC for the last 5 years. Most recently, Anna understudied Here There Are Blueberries by Moises Kaufman and Amanda Gronich at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Other credits include This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing at Theater Alliance (Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Best Ensemble), Poetry for the People: The June Jordan Experience, and A Chorus Within Her, both for Theater Alliance, and The Upstairs Department at Signature Theatre. Anna was a member of Tour 71 of the National Players out of Olney Theatre Center. She received her BA in Performance at American University in Washington, DC. Anna is thrilled to be rejoining the outstanding team of Here There Are Blueberries for their run at NYTW.
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Rebecca Erbelding & Others
Elizabeth Stahlmann is delighted to make her NYTW debut. Other theater credits include: Tectonic Theater Project’s world premiere of Here There Are Blueberries (La Jolla Playhouse, Shakespeare Theater of DC); Slave Play (Mark Taper Forum, understudy for Broadway); Grounded (Westport Country Playhouse-CT Critics Circle Award); The Humans, The Cake at The Alley Theatre; Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater; Tennessee Williams Festival; national tours of Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It with The Acting Company; The Guthrie Theater; and is a founding member of Krymov Lab NYC which ran Dmitri Krymov’s Eugene Onegin: In Our Own Words to sold out performances at this year’s Under the Radar. TV/film credits include: “City on a Hill,” “The Equalizer,” “Law & Order: SVU,” The Snare (in production). Graduate of University of MN/Guthrie Theater (BFA), Yale School of Drama (MFA). Elizabeth is a proud member of The Actors Center.
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Rainer Höss & Others
NYTW Debut. Off-Broadway: The Wedge Horse. Select Regional: Macbeth in Stride (Shakespeare DC, Philadelphia Theatre Co, A.R.T.), Here There Are Blueberries (La Jolla, Shakespeare DC), Prince of Providence (Trinity Rep), The Song of Summer (Trinity Rep), Three Sisters (Arden), Completely Fictional… Tale of Edgar Allan Poe (Baltimore). Select TV/Film: “Dexter,” “Julia,” “Law & Order: SVU,” Finestkind, Boston Strangler, Money Monster, Life Itself, The Unholy. MFA, Brown/Trinity Rep. Charlie is a member of the Acting Company at Trinity Rep and a founding member of The Feast, a living wage theatre in Seatte. www.charliethurston.net
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Peter Wirths & Others
Grant James Varjas is a writer, deviser, and company member at Tectonic Theatre Project, and an Advanced Teaching Artist in their Moment Work Institute. He performed in the HBO film adaptation of The Laramie Project, the Los Angeles (CTG) production of 33 Variations with Jane Fonda, and Here There Are Blueberries at LaJolla Playhouse and Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C. (all directed by Moisés Kaufman). Off-Broadway he has performed at Lincoln Center and The Roundabout, and in many other productions in New York City. Grant also played David in The Sign In Sidney Brustein’s Window (dir. Anne Kauffman) at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He is the playwright and composer of 33 To Nothing (GLAAD Nomination) and Accidentally, Like A Martyr (“Top 10 Best Plays Of 2015,” TimeOut Chicago), both plays produced in Chicago (A Red Orchid Theatre), and New York City (wild project). Grant is the creator and writer of the queer web series “Way Down” (waydownseries.com).
NEWS
THE PROVENANCE
New York Theatre Workshop strives to be both an active producing theatre, engaging in an ongoing conversation with our audiences, and a nurturing workshop, providing off-stage support to a diverse community of artists. Our workshop activities are designed to provide artists a space to experiment and are not open to the public. However, the development of the work we share with our audiences is an important part of the conversation around each production. To that end, we include information on the piece’s provenance, or beginnings, in our programs.
In 1991, Moisés Kaufman became an NYTW Usual Suspect and co-founded Tectonic Theater Project, creating work through a rigorous process of research and collaboration in a laboratory environment. Among the first company members was fellow NYC student, actor and playwright Amanda Gronich.
In 2007, Moisés read the New York Times article “In the Shadow of Horror, SS Guardians Frolic,” detailing the discovery of a previously unknown album of photos from Auschwitz. He contacted Holocaust historian and author Rebecca Erbelding to learn more. From their conversations, the theatrical seeds of Here There Are Blueberries blossomed.
From 2016 to 2018, Moisés, Amanda and the Members of Tectonic explored the theatrical potential of Erbelding’s story and the Höcker Album artifact through a series of workshops and readings. In 2018 the first hour of material was staged at Miami New Drama. Longtime company members Scott Barrow and Grant Varjas (members of the current cast) joined the project as devisors.
In April 2019, Moisés, Amanda, dramaturg Amy Marie Seidel, and Tectonic Executive Director Matt Joslyn traveled to Poland and Germany to visit the sites in the album and interview descendants of Nazis photographed within. That summer, Tectonic continued with devising workshops utilizing their signature “Moment Work” method to explore and expand narrative possibilities. By fall, the piece was presented in readings with FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics) and the German Consulate. In March of 2020, NYTW hosted a reading of the piece. Throughout the COVID-19 shutdown, Moisés, Amanda, Amy, Matt, Scott and Grant worked together on Zoom to develop the script.
The world premiere production at La Jolla Playhouse in the summer of 2022 was created in a collaborative, laboratory setting. The rehearsal room engaged the full creative team from day one to integrate design the narrative. David Lander, David Bengali, Derek McLane, Bobby McElver and Dede Ayite each made contributions to the overall creation of the production as co-devisors of the piece. Patricia McGregor saw the play in La Jolla just before becoming NYTW’s Artistic Director. In May 2023, it traveled to Washington D.C’s Shakespeare Theatre Company. The company has continued to refine the piece in advance of the New York production.
ADDITIONAL CREDITS
Here There Are Blueberries was originally commissioned and developed by Tectonic Theater Project (Moisés Kaufman, Artistic Director & Matt Joslyn, Executive Director).
Here There Are Blueberries is the winner of the 2021 Theater J Trish Vradenburg Jewish Play Prize (Adam Immerwahr, Artistic Director & David Lloyd Olson, Managing Director).
The play had its first workshop production at Miami New Drama’s Colony Theater, Miami Beach, May, 2018.
The World Premiere of Here There Are Blueberries was produced in 2022 by La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla, California (Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director & Debby Buchholz, Managing Director).
