The First Theatrical Version of Herta Müller’s ”Lowlands” Opens the Rehearsal for Truth Festival

We are excited to open (and close) the Rehearsal for Truth Festival in New York with the workshop production of ”Lowlands” by the German-Romanian, Nobel Prize winner author, Herta Müller, a haunting depiction of the moral decomposition of the terminal years of communism seen through the eyes of a child from the German minority of Romania. The workshop production, directed by Ana Margineanu on a stage adaptation by Mihaela Panainte, will be followed by a talk on topics related to the play. The Romanian presence at the Festival, which carries on the vision and legacy of the great Václav Havel, is complemented by a screening of ”Here Moscow Calling”, directed by Catinca Drăgănescu, a production of the Unteatru company of Bucharest.

PROGRAM:

May 17, 7:30 PM: “Lowlands”, Rehearsal for Truth Festival (staged reading)

June 22, 7 PM: “Lowlands”, Voices International Theatre Festival, New Jersey (workshop production, as part of the Rehearsal for Truth Festival) / RSVP

June 23, 4 PM: ”Here Moscow Calling” by Catinca Drăgănescu (screening)

June 23, 7 PM: “Lowlands”, Rehearsal for Truth Festival (workshop production) / RSVP

“Lowlands” was originally published in the volume 'Plays from Romania: Dramaturgies of Subversion', edited and translated by Jozefina Komporaly,  Bloomsbury, 2021

“Lowlands” is a Untitled Theater Company No. 61 production made possible by the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute

Adapted for stage by Mihaela Panainte after the homonymous book by Herta Müller, translated into English by Jozefina Komporaly 

Directed by Ana Mărgineanu

Associate director: Jack Cavanaugh-Gialloreto

Cast: Maria Müller (Narrator, Child Narrator); Calaine Schafer (Mother, Blonde Girl, Scarecrow); Vas Eli (Father, Tony); Allison Fletcher (Grandmother, Aunt); Miguel Loyola (Grandfather, Man with Matchsticks)

Choreographer: Răzvan Stoian

Running time: 65 minutes

Language: English

Originally a volume of short stories, ”Lowlands” by Nobel Prize for Literature winner Herta Müller, born in Romania in the sizeable German (Schwaben) ethnic group of Banat Region, offers a poignant portrayal of life under the repressive regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, from the perspective of the German minority in Romania. Seen through the eyes of a child narrator, using both poetry and frankness to convey the harsh realities of the time, the book captures the malaise of an existence suffocated by the constraints of both a dictatorship and a closed off community.

”Here Moscow Calling” (screening)

An Unteatru production

Written by Iulia Pospelova (translated in Romanian by Raluca Rădulescu)

Directed by Catinca Drăgănescu

Cast: Nicoleta Lefter, Alex Călin, Liviu Romanescu, Răzvan Rotaru

Cinematic creation and stage movement by Simona Deaconescu

Set design by Gabi Albu

Photography by Carmen Tofeni

Video editing by Bogdan Giurcă

Lighting design by Dragoș Mărgineanu/ Alexandru Medveghi

A daughter's relationship with her father is always special, but how does it change if the father is a famous dictator? How does it feel when Dad is a monster? Which reality is the real one? Between family attachment and political conscience, the show proposes a live dissection of a controversial character in the history of the 20th century, the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.