What Was Once “Verschollen” is Now Found: The Berlin Diaries
Andrea Stolowitz ’90 (Photo: Artists Repertory Theatre)
Class of 1990 alumna Andrea Stolowitz’s most recent work, The Berlin Diaries, dives into her great-grandfather Max’s life as recounted firsthand in his diary and takes viewers on an exciting and heartbreaking adventure to rediscover a seemingly lost family history. Max, a Berlin-born Jew who escaped to New York in the late 1930s, kept a diary in hopes that future generations would gain insight from his experiences. When Andrea’s family discovered Max’s diary, they urged her to create something from it.
At first, Andrea, an award-winning playwright, wasn’t interested in the diary. She explained how she likes to find her own material. But, she also knew that her hesitation to use the journal was likely indicative of some greater reluctance to explore her family’s past. She had never had a large family and the family members she did have weren’t particularly close. When an opportunity to spend the year in Berlin presented itself, Andrea decided that it was time to investigate not only the diary but her family roots as well.
Andrea spent that year doing a close read of her great-grandfather’s diary. She would visit the addresses mentioned in the diary, look up names, and trace family trees all to gain clarity on Max’s life and what became of her other family members. What she came to realize is that the diary keeps as many secrets as it shares.
The Berlin Diaries investigates how people become verschollen, or lost. While the play is about the Jewish diaspora and her complicated family history, Andrea is quick to note that this “isn’t your mother’s Holocaust play.” Through innovative storytelling and unique, modern perspectives, Andrea is able to explore a story we think we might already know in a way that feels distinctively new. Two actors play multiple characters throughout the show and trade off telling the autobiographical story of Andrea’s quest to rediscover her family in a way that cleverly combines history and memory.
As a result of the play, Andrea has uncovered family secrets that shed light on the modern generation. She has also been reunited with family members she did not know she had - one man, living in Chile, read an online PDF of The Berlin Diaries and figured out that he and Andrea shared relatives. Andrea remembers him saying, “It is so special to discover a cousin because we don't have that many.”
While the play focuses squarely on Andrea’s life, the story she tells of rediscovering family histories is universal. Viewers from all different backgrounds, especially those who have experienced forced separation, will be able to relate to Andrea’s character in the play and her desire to uncover the truth.
In this play and her other works, Andrea finds great success rooting her stories in a specific period or archetype that the audience may already be familiar with and using that as a starting point to create something new. She has discovered that this model primes the viewers to grapple with the complex ideas presented in her new take on the familiar story.
Rebecca S’manga Frank and David Greenspan in The Berlin Diaries (Photo: Helen Hylton, 59E59 Theaters)
Her involvement in HM theater never felt like her primary focus during high school; instead, it was an activity that Andrea did because it was fun for her. She took classes in theater design and production with faculty members Barry Siebelt and Anne Mackay[1] and had the opportunity to attend countless plays and productions with her classmates.
At the time, Andrea says that she didn’t realize what a special opportunity it was to see so many influential plays and then discuss them with equally excited peers in a classroom environment. Succeeding in high school required a lot of hard work and Andrea valued her theater classes because they offered a break from her academics. Since she had no intention of working in the theater world at the time, she was able to appreciate the art and the experience of attending theater productions.
Andrea attributes her life-long tendency to seek out art and theater partially to her HM experience. This desire to experience art live and in person is part of what eventually led Andrea to become a playwright. She reflects on how accessible theater felt as a young person and how impactful that was for her. She explains how the true value of an arts education is rarely understood in the moment and, looking back, she is immensely grateful for the opportunities HM presented.
“The opportunities at Horace Mann are unusual,” she said, “and I am grateful for the whole breadth and scope of education I received, not even just related to theater.” She describes how she developed her sense of self-worth while at HM. Her teachers gave her the opportunity to create high-quality work and have it recognized which left a lasting impact on Andrea.
Playwriting is a competitive field and many of the reasons Andrea has found success can be traced back to skills she began developing while at HM. She notes how much of her job involves speaking with donors and applying for grants. While many artists in her field struggle with this aspect of their role, Andrea feels comfortable interacting with the movers and shakers of the theater world. She believes that HM has played a role in that comfort and credits the school for teaching her and her peers to see people authentically as who they are, beyond just their status or influence. She says, “I feel very lucky to have gone to Horace Mann and grown up in that type of unique social environment.”
The Berlin Diaries recently closed in New York but will be playing in Boca Raton, FL, through December and will show in Indianapolis, IN, and Rochester, NY, over the next two years as part of a rolling world premiere through the National New Play Network. An audio version of the play can be streamed here. More about Andrea, her upcoming works, and her many awards and recognitions can be found here.