Lebensraum

Author(s): Israel Horovitz
Set in Germany, this drama follows an American family emigrating to Germany just before the year 2000. Using a cast of three to play forty characters, the play is based on the idea that a German Chancellor might, as an act of redemption, invite six million Jews to Germany and promise them citizenship and jobs. A resulting scenario unfolds that explores the effects of the policy on Jews and Gentiles, with widely varying outlooks: an out-of-work Jewish dock worker from Massachusetts who brings his Irish wife and his son to Bremerhaven to start a new life; a survivor of Auschwitz who returns to find the woman who betrayed his family to the Nazis; a young German smitten by a Jewish-American teenage girl; an unemployed German laborer; and scores of others. The actors make quick changes from one character to the next, occasionally using masks or character cutouts to enhance the transformations. The logical progression of the script raises the terrifying possibility that history may repeat itself.
Format: Full-length play
Cast Size: 2M/1F
Running Time: 90 minutes

Snapshot

Original or Prominent Production:
First performed in 1997 at Gloucester Stage, Massachusetts. Performed off-Broadway and in several European productions.
Nationality of Author: U.S.
Original Language: English
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