Chain Theatre
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A Will to Live Program

 
 

PROGRAM

The Chain Theatre Proudly Presents the World Premiere of:


A WILL TO LIVE

WRITTEN BY HELENA WEINRAUCH

DIRECTED BY RICK HAMILTON

ADAPTED FOR THE STAGE BY KIRK GOSTKOWSKI

August 24 - September 16, 2023


CAST:

Masha King as Helena Weinrauch

Featuring the voice talents of:

Stephan Goldbach
Anne Kraft
Martin Harris
Josef Urban
Anna Krezel
Tim Andrews
Ida Barklund
Anni Baumann
Deven Anderson

PRODUCTION TEAM

Set and Projection Design by David Henderson

Lighting Design by Michael Abrams

Costume Design by Debbi Hobson

Sound Design by Greg Russ

Stage Managed by Shelby Pickelny

Assistant Stage Manager Agnes Scotti

Dramaturg G.D. Kimble

Publicity by Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR

Production Assistant Weston Scheck

Producer Christina Perry

Special Artist Slaveyko Baylov

Pianist/ Music Coordinator Robert Pound

Violinist Melinda Schlitt

Production Photos by David Zayas, Jr.

Additional Video Editing David Rey

*The Chain Theatre is a 501c3 not for profit organization. All donations are tax deductible and may be made at chaintheatre.org. We thank you for supporting independent theatre and new work found only here at the Chain! 

CAST

 

MASHA KING

Masha King graduated from NYC’s American Musical and Dramatics Academy and began performing in off-off Broadway plays, various comedy sketches, and commercials. She is a founding member of the award-winning theatre troupe The Lost and Found Project, which is made up of all former Soviet Union Jewish immigrants and has participated in developing 4 original works with the company that were performed both in the U.S. and Russia. She toured as Anne Frank in a one-woman educational show that was curated from Anne's diary entries, directed by Hanna Vaughn in conjunction with the Anne Frank Center. Her most recent stage role was Voyage Theatre's Don't Look Back by Adam Kraar (Ensemble Cast). Notable T.V. roles include GIRLS (HBO), The Blacklist: Redemption (NBC), BLUE BLOODS (CBS), and recurring as Talia Petrov on Madam Secretary (CBS) and Sherry Henry on HIGHTOWN (STARZ). She co-starred alongside Amy Smart and Billy Zane in the feature film BLUNT, due to be released later this year.

PRODUCTION TEAM

HELENA WEINRAUCH (Playwright) *told in first-person:

The worst of all fears is the fear of living! There are some problems in life that have no solution. There are some situations that simply must be lived through. Survival calls for the ability to hope and determination, but most of all: a will to live.

From the age of 16 to 21, I was a prisoner of three different Nazi concentration camps: Plaszow, Auschwitz and ultimately Bergen – Belsen.

My story is not fiction. Unfortunately, this is my true story. I wrote it 61 years ago in German and Polish. I moved to New York City in 1947 and soon translated it into English. Two people read my story – one questioned the authenticity, the other wanted to know who wrote it. I was very hurt by their reaction and decided not to show it anymore. It remained dormant and unread because as the years passed, my outlook, mentality and perception changed. I would be tempted to correct mistakes, change style, phraseology etc. I was advised not to do it – all authenticity would be lost.

My story became widely known when a friend posted a photo of me in my blue Passover sweater that was then shared 50,000 times on Facebook. “Helena Weinrauch, 95, has worn the same blue sweater to every Passover seder for the last 78 years. It’s the sweater she wore to her first Passover after surviving a Nazi concentration camp.” – Genevive Shaw Brown, Good Morning America.

So here it is – finally surfacing! We survivors of the Holocaust are almost an extinct species. My life was recorded in the documentary film Fascination: Helena’s Story by Karen Goldfarb which won the Chain NYC Film Festival Signature Award for Best Personal Story August 2019. It was here I was introduced to the Chain Theatre and the people there. Following the festival, Christina approached me about further sharing my story through the medium of theatre. I said, “Yes!”

I still live in New York City. For years I was a dental assistant. They taught me all the phases of their profession. The position followed 30 years of working with a renowned professor of cardiology and nephrology. I learned a lot – it was most stimulating and enriching, but I retired after his passing. Now I spend my time on my two passions. I dance! And I go to different schools speaking to children about the power of love and how important it is to erase the word hate from their vocabulary.

I hope that my story may bring hope and love into the lives of those who hear it.

RICK HAMILTON (Director)

Managing Director of the Chain Theatre and the Chain NYC Film Festival, is an award-winning filmmaker whose short films, including Seeing Glory, Choices and The Fear Inside have screened around the world. He directed the hit Off-Broadway show Fabulous! The Queen of New Musical Comedies, the AUDELCO-nominated Gypsy and the world premiere staging of The Orbit of the Soul. At the Chain Theatre, he directed last season’s Mainstage production What Passes for Comedy and the workshop production of Georgie D., following its development in the Chain Play Writing Lab. His work Off-Off Broadway includes Geeks! The Musical and Sophia. Other play development work includes staged presentations of Lychee Martini, Candy Hearts, Sarah was Mine and A Retail Carol. For more information on past and current projects, please see www.rickhamilton.nyc

KIRK GOSTKOWSKI (Adaptation for the Stage)

Artistic Director Chain Theatre; Writing credits: Singin' All Night (Chain Theatre), Film: Leave Me Behind. Select acting credits: World Premiere of Garbageman as Dan Bandana, Nick Moroni (NYC Premiere) Keith Huff’s Six Corners, World Premiere This G*d Damn House as Jacob, The Pillowman as Katurian (2016 Queens Kudos Winner Best Actor), Talk Radio as Barry Champlain (2015 NYIT Award Nominee for Outstanding Revival), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as R. P. McMurphy, Hurlyburly as Eddie, After the Fall as Quentin, Fool for Love as Eddie, In The Boom Boom Room as Al, True West as Austin, Wait Until Dark as Roat (Nominated as Best Director 2016 NYIT). He is the founder and Festival Director of the Chain NYC Film Festival. Kirk made his film directorial debut with the film Leave Me Behind, which was featured in ten film festivals worldwide, won awards, and is distributed through Screen Media Ventures. Appearing next in the feature film: My Sister’s Wedding and the short film Robotomy. Kirk is a graduate of Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree focused in performance.

Stage Manager: Shelby Pickelny

Shelby Pickelny (she/they) is a Brooklyn-based storyteller and producer who has a passion for mixing mediums and confronting the audience with their own humanity. Most frequently, she works as a stage playwright. Their recent projects include: Out Skirts (2023), The Art of Peaking too Soon (2021), and Dead Babies. Shelby has also worked as a management assistant at 101 productions, as well as an Associate Television Producer on PBS’ Drive By History and TLC’s I Am Shauna Rae. THANK YOU to Masha and the AWL team for all of their hard work and energy. @shelbspickles

Assistant Stage Manager: Agnes Scotti

Agnes Scotti (she/her) is a stage manager, artist, and aspiring music producer based in New York. She returns to The Chain Theatre after finishing work as a Production Assistant on both the 22nd season of Law and Order and on the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel. Agnes has worked as a stage manager at the Chain in the past, and also worked as the Production Stage Manager of the stage adaptation of Winnie the Pooh at Theater Row last summer. Agnes would like to thank Rick, Christina, Shelby, and Masha for bringing her back to the Chain for such a special show. Much love and gratitude to everyone! @agnescotti

Set and Projection Design: David Henderson

David is a Professor of Drama and Dance, and Director of Scenic Design, at Hofstra University. He holds an MFA in Costume and Scenic Design from Carnegie Mellon University. He has designed costumes or scenery for over 100 theater and film productions across the country including the Seattle Group Theater, City Theater in Pittsburgh, and The American Studio Theater in New York. He has designed many productions, both in costumes and scenery, for Hofstra University, and in 2016 designed Hofstra’s new Globe Stage replica. He has produced and directed several short films which have won multiple awards including Best Short Film at the FAIF International Film Festival, and the Audience Choice Award at the Brooklyn International Film Festival. David was the recipient of the Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Teacher of the Year Award for 2017.

Lighting Design: Michael Abrams

Michael has designed numerous shows all over the country, including Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, Regional, Tour and Cruise Ship venues. Select Design credits include: I of the Storm, Music Man, The Merry Widow, The Salvage Shop, My Favorite Year, Twelfth Night, The Last Starfighter, Midsummer Nights Dream, Occupation: Dragonslayer, American Nocturne, She Loves Me, Amadeus, Quartet, Last Five Years, Jekyll & Hyde, Scarlet Pimpernel, Parade, King and I, Children of Eden, Annie, Forever Plaid, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamCoat, Singing in the Rain, Anything Goes, and A Christmas Carol. In addition to designing shows, Michael is a professional photographer that has been published nationally and internationally.

Sound Design: Greg Russ

Working on-air and in production at radio stations in Atlanta and New York, the depressing state of the industry took it’s toll on Greg, crushing a once vibrant soul. Persevering through the residual cynicism and bitterness, he found the  to rebuild his happiness and now works shooting and editing video/film, and somehow convinced people he is capable of designing sound for theatre. Results forthcoming...

Costume Design: Debbie Hobson

Debbi has been a costume designer in theatre and film for over 20 years. Credits include A Letter to Harvey Milk dir. Evan Pappas; Luft Gangster dir. Austin Pendleton; What Passes for Comedy dir. Rick Hamilton; A Christmas Story dir. Mark Martino. She is also a resident artist with Phoenix Theatre Ensemble where she designed The Importance of Being Earnest, Skin Of Their Teeth, and The Harmfulness of Tobacco for their inaugural Phoenix Theatre Festival autumn 2022 and will be designing Wind in the Willows, Crime and Punishment, and Drinks with Dead Poets for their upcoming 2023 festival. In 2015 she was awarded the NYIT Outstanding Costume Design award for Unmentionables dir. Monserrat Mendez.

Dramaturg: G.D. Kimble

G.D. Kimble is an actor, director, playwright, and the resident dramaturg of the Chain Theatre. BROADWAY/NEW YORK credits include: The Roundabout Theatre, The Public Theatre, TheatreMasters @ The Atlantic Theatre, The Chain Theatre, AMT Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, 59e59, The Internationalists, Exquisite Corpse Company, and the Glass Eye. REGIONAL credits include: American Conservatory Theater, Shakespeare & Company, The Shakespeare Theatre, The Geffen Theater, On & Off Theatre Workshop, Pass-The-Hat Theatre, The Huntington, Boston Center for the Arts, St. Louis Actors Studio, Mill Mountain Theatre, The Riverside Theatre, Stage Left Spokane, Swine Palace Productions, Subway Samovar Ensemble, GreenDoor Productions, Cone Man Running, and the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival.

Production Assistant: Weston Sterling Scheck

Weston Sterling Scheck - Originally from Fort Collins, CO, Weston is a performer, writer, and student pursuing Drama, Labor Studies, and Labor Economics at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. Previous Hofstra performance credits include JJ Peachum in The Threepenny Opera, Leonato/Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing, and Fairtone/Hank Munson, as well as Dramaturg for State Fair. They are extremely grateful for the opportunity to contribute research to this incredibly important show and would like to thank everyone at the Chain for creating such an open, creative space.

Publicity: Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR 

Katie Rosin

A full service Marketing and Public Relations agency founded by Katie Rosin, offering exceptional and custom campaigns for each client’s unique needs and projects. Rosin was instrumental in the launch of the Broadway musical Brooklyn and the National Tour of Mother Load. She worked on the publicity team for the comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, and his movie Comedian. Antonio Miniño later joined the Kampfire Team, after having produced and marketed various fashion shows, theatrical productions, as well as produced and hosted for the award winning Fashion TV. Together they have represented companies of all levels, genres and aesthetics in the Arts. Kampfire’s Off-Broadway highlights include: MUST, Theatre at St. Clements; Delirium’s Daughter, Clurman Theatre; The Humingbird’s Tour, Theatre at St. Clements; unFRAMED, John Jay College Performing Arts Center; My Sinatra, Midtown Theater & Sophia’s’; Modotti, Acorn Theater; GLAAD Award Nominee, She Like Girls, Ohio Theater; ...Another Man’s Poison, Jay Sharp Theater; Swimming With The Polar Bears, 45 Bleecker Street; Glimpses of the Moon, Algonquin Hotel; IT Awards recipient, Elizabeth Rex, Center Stage; Mother Load, Sage Theater; Wasps in Bed, Beckett Theater; Anaïs Nin: One Of Her Lives, Beckett Theater; Triple Threat: 2007 Drama Desk Nominee (mis)Understanding Mammy: The Hattie McDaniel Story, Theatre 5. Back-to-back Best of Fest Winners at NYMF. Some of Kampfire past and present clients include: The Actor’s Temple, ArtsRock, Astoria Performing Arts Center, The Bossy Frog Band, the cell theatre, Tony Award Winning Double Play Connections, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The League of Professional Theater Women, New York Innovative Theatre Awards, New York Neo-Futurists, Nicu’s Spoon, The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, Queens Theatre, R.Evolución Latina, Singers Forum, TADA! Youth Theater and terraNOVA Collective.

Technical Director: Jackson Berkley

Carpenters: Michael Berlant, Robert Dortilus

Handwritten Titles: Aida Wójcik

Photos from pexels.com -  photographers:

Eberhard Grossgasteiger, Kelly, Mike Bird, Dalila Dalprat, Anna Nekrashevich, Messala Ciulla, Claudio Afc, Ron Lach, Julia Volk, Umeir Shk, Kieran Carrighan,

Kai Pilger, Paul Cameron, Nikolaos Dimou, David Mackey

Music Selections:

Verklärte Nacht, Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)

An der schönen blauen Donau, Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)

Poor Butterfly, Raymond Hubbell (1879-1954)

Fascination, Fermo Dante Marchetti (1876-1940)

If you would like to know more about Helena Weinrauch, check out the documentary Fascination: Helena's Story, which recounts her life during the war, but also her joyous embrace at the age of 88 of ballroom dancing, and her refusal to hate - only to love.

Winner of the Best Personal Story Award at the Chain NYC Film Festival in 2019, it is available on several platforms, including Google Play, Amazon Prime and Chai Films. You may read more about the film at http://fascinationfilm.weebly.com/

PROGRAMMING SUPPORT BY

 

NYSCA (New York State Council of the Arts)

 

The Shubert Foundation


SPECIAL THANK YOU

USC Shoah Foundation

Hofstra University Drama and Dance Department

Rych Curtiss, James P. Hart

Councilmember Erik Bottcher

The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

Jerry Scupp

Brian Webber

Inge Ivchenko

Jordan Feiner

Barbara Blair

Community Board 4

Brian Russell

Ray and Lori Palomaa

Charles Davis

Chain Theatre Board