What I Learned About Playwriting From My Dad

Last night, I had a dream about my Dad, Dr. Robert Ullian, who passed away in 2005. I said to my wife, Michele, this morning, how much I wished he'd had a chance to see my show, Signs of Life, which just ended its five week run on March 21st. Michele said, of course, that he had.

Many survivors who saw our show, which takes place in the Jewish ghetto Terezin during World War Two, remarked upon how many details we managed to get right. A few took issue with details we got wrong -- usually deliberately, when the requirements of dramatic narrative took precedence over those of documentary. But for the most part, people who were actually imprisoned in Terezin were very generous and understanding about our efforts to balance truth and fiction, and most felt we got the balance just about right.

To the extent we got anything right, it's because we are good listeners. The most telling and remarkable details, such as the romantic gift of a home-made toilet seat, we learned about from interviews with survivors, not from books.

This ability to listen is something I owe very much to my Dad. Dr. Robert Ullian, a primary care physician who referred to himself as a simple country doctor (even though he practiced medicine in Cambridge and Boston), was widely considered to be one of the best diagnosticians in New England by his peers. When people asked him how he achieved this, his answer was simple: he listened to his patients.

To find out what critics and audiences said about Signs of Life, click here.

To visit the Signs of Life website, click here.

To find out more about Signs of Life off-Broadway, click here.

To visit the Signs of Life Facebook page, click here.

To visit Peter Ullian's Website, click here.

To find Peter Ullian's "Fan" Page on Facebook, click here.

To follow Peter Ullian on Twitter, click here.

To read Signs of Life lyricist Len Schiff's blog, click here.

To visit Signs of Life composer Joel Derfner's website, click here.

To read Signs of Life composer Joel Derfner's blog, click here.

To visit Signs of Life director Jeremy Dobrish's website, click here.

Remarks to the Beacon Hebrew Alliance

Recently, my shul, the Beacon Hebrew Alliance, organized a group to come see Signs of Life. Last Friday night, during Shabbat services, I made a few remarks about the show, in anticipation of this event. I'm publishing these remarks below:

Shabbat Shalom.

I’ve been asked to say a few words about my musical drama, Signs of Life, which is now running off-Broadway, and which some of you will be seeing this coming Sunday.

Signs of Life takes place during World War Two in the Czech village of Terezin.

Terezin is the Czech name for a town about 45 minutes outside of Prague. Built as a Garrison town in the late 19th century, it’s near a fortress, and the town itself is surrounded by twelve meter-thick walls, with several gates the only way to get in and out.

In 1942, the Nazis evacuated Terezin, which they called Theresienstadt, and ordered all the Czech Jews to relocate to the town. Terezin, which had previously held eight thousand Czech residents, became the overcrowded home to over sixty thousand displaced Jews.

The first transport of German Jews arrived soon thereafter. These were mostly elderly, decorated veterans of World War One, some of them amputees. They had been told they were going to spa. Instead, they were forced to sleep in unheated attics on straw mattresses. Most of them did not survive very long.

The Nazis eventually designated Terezin as a “Model Ghetto,” a “City for the Jews.” They filled the town with Jewish “prominenten,” or prominent people, from around Europe, including artists, writers, composers, musicians, actors, and cabaret performers. They allowed these new residents of Terezin to create art, give concerts, and hold lectures. They “beautified” the ghetto, invited the Red Cross to visit, and made a propaganda film: “The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews.”

The Nazi propaganda effort not only covered up the terrible conditions within Terezin – the overcrowding, the malnutrition, the disease – but also helped to hide from the world the reality of the death camps in the East. Even as they allowed cultural activities within Terezin, the Nazis ordered frequent deportations of the town’s inmates to Auschwitz. The vast majority of Terezin residents eventually perished there.

Most Terezin residents did not know what awaited them in “The East.” But they knew the conditions in the ghetto were terrible. Even as they were forced to participate in the Nazi propaganda effort, they used their artistic skill to try to leave a record of the truth of their surroundings. Artists risked their lives to make sketches of the misery around them, and hid them away in basements, under floorboards, or behind bricks. Those who were caught doing this were deported to Auschwitz, or executed. Some of these hidden sketches were recovered years later, and they comprise an amazing visual record. This effort to tell the truth through art is central to the story in Signs of Life.

In addition to the efforts of visual artists, composers created operas that provided thinly veiled critiques of Nazi Germany, such as Viktor Ullman’s “The Kaiser of Atlantis,” and cabaret singers wrote and performed satirical songs about the ghetto.

Nevertheless, despite this amazing cultural output, and the efforts of the adults in the ghetto to shield the children from the very worst, of the 144,000 Jews who were sent to Terezin, only 17,247 survived the war. Of the 15,000 children, less than 150 survived.

My involvement with this story began before I was born. My mother, Anna Clara Deleeuw, was born in Holland during the war. Her mother died of complications soon thereafter, and my mother was placed with a family who pretended she was their own, while her father went into hiding. Her father survived the war, but her close relatives who did not include her great-Uncle Simon, and her Uncle Alex Deleeuw, for whom, in part, my own son, Alexander, is named.

My mother’s Great-Uncle Joseph Deleeuw (my great-great uncle), his wife, and their daughter Lucy were imprisoned in Terezin. Lucy eventually made it to Switzerland, but Joseph and his wife both perished.

Some years ago, I was approached by a woman named Virginia Criste about writing a musical theatre piece that takes place in Terezin during the war. Virginia had researched her own family’s connection to the ghetto, and had discovered her grandparents were on the last transport to Auschwitz. Aware of my own family connection to Terezin, I said yes to the project. In collaboration with composer Joel Derfner, lyricist Len Schiff, and director Jeremy Dobrish, we began researching, writing, and developing the project.

Research for the project involved reading a lot of books, visiting Prague and Terezin, and interviewing survivors. The survivors were especially helpful in giving us a sense of life as it was lived in the ghetto. Through a plethora of small details, their generous reminisces helped us bring the story alive. There is in our show, for example, a somewhat outlandish gift a young man gives to the girl he loves. Although the characters are fictional, the moment is real – such gifts were actually quite common, and highly valued. I won’t spoil the surprise by telling you what it is, but when you see the show, I think you’ll know.

This brings us to an important issue we are often asked about: to what extent did we base our characters, and the events of the show, on the historical record? The balance between truth and fiction is, of course, a tricky one to maintain with a subject and immense and terrible as the Shoah. No dramatic narrative can ever achieve the kind of detailed accuracy of non-fiction or documentary. But it can, hopefully, communicate some of what the New York Times refers to as “the rough authority of novelistic truth” – a truthful sense of how some of the history depicted may have felt as it was being experienced. This, we hope, will bring the history closer to home for the audience.

As such, we made the choice early on to draw from the historical record, but also to allow ourselves the toolbox available to us as creative artists. We also felt, as an ethical matter, that it would have been wrong to have tried get inside the thoughts of historical people who did not survive Terezin. Who can say, after all, what really went on in their minds, what their thoughts, fears, and hopes were? All we can do is imagine what those thoughts might have been. We therefore felt more comfortable taking that imaginative leap into fictional characters, whose experiences mirrored those of historical ones.

So, many of the events and characters depicted in Signs of Life are based on or inspired by real people and historical incidents. But, in the end, our show is narrative fiction, it is not history. We hope, for those interested in the Terezin, that Signs of Life can provide a kind of emotional entry into the subject. But it should not be viewed as a substitute for old-fashioned history.

An example of how this approach is reflected in the show itself: a famous cabaret singer named Kurt Gerron was an inmate in Terezin. We have a character named Kurt Gerard who is also a famous cabaret singer, and is similar in many – but not in all -- ways to his historical namesake.

Another question we are frequently asked is “why a musical?” There is a fear, not unjustified, that the musical form would trivialize the subject.

There are several parts this answer:

First, the historical Terezin was filled with music – cabaret, chorus, classical, opera, popular song – and in that way, the setting lends itself to the form.

In addition, the central drama of Terezin – the propaganda artifice that hides brutal reality – is, itself, highly theatrical, and naturally lends itself to musical theatre, the most highly theatrical dramatic form.

And, finally, the notion of the musical as something frothy and not suited to serious subjects is not one that we share. Showboat, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, Assassins, Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, and West Side Story all take on serious subjects. Ultimately, one could just as easily trivialize this subject in a non-musical play, or a novel.

The rule of thumb when writing a musical is that when the emotions are too intense for the spoken word, that’s when the characters sing. And, of course, you could not find a subject with greater or more intense emotions than this one.

I should also address something Elie Wiesel has said – that the Shoah should never be the subject of art, because any effort to create art from the Shoah will always fall short. I don’t entirely disagree with this. But, of course, Mr. Wiesel did create art out of the Shoah, with his autobiographical novel, Night. And the fact of the matter is, art is how human beings address and commemorate the great tragedies of our history, going all the way back, at the very least, to the war at Troy. I believe that if we do not try to grapple with this subject in art, we will have failed in our duty as human beings to remember the Shoah and to honor its victims.

The creators of Signs of Life have ourselves been deeply honored by the reaction of survivors who have seen our show. They have been enormously generous. While recognizing the need for compression of detail and for dramatic invention, they have said we captured something truthful and powerful about Terezin in our show, and have done so without the easy sentimentality that they so often find in efforts to deal with this subject. Their kind words have meant more to us than any newspaper review, no matter how enthusiastic, ever could.

I thank you for your time, and I look forward to seeing you at the show.

Signs of Life runs through March 21st.

To order tickets to Signs of Life: A Tale of Terezin, click here.

To find out what critics and audiences are saying about Signs of Life, click here.

To visit the Signs of Life website, click here.

To find out more about Signs of Life off-Broadway, click here.

To visit the Signs of Life Facebook page, click here.

To visit Peter Ullian's Website, click here.

To find Peter Ullian's "Fan" Page on Facebook, click here.

To read Signs of Life Lyricist Len Schiff's blog, click here.

To visit Signs of Life composer Joel Derfner's website, click here.

To read Signs of Life composer Joel Derfner's blog, click here.

To visit director Jeremy Dobrish's website, click here.

Another Open Letter to John Podhoretz

A few days ago, New York Post columnist and Commentary editor John Podhoretz attacked Signs of Life, without having actually seen the show. We responded with an open letter.

Podhoretz responded to our response, here:

Signs of Life Strife

John Podhoretz - 03.06.2010 - 5:19 PM

A few days ago, I called attention to a quote from one of the creators of a new musical called Signs of Life, which is set in and around the Thereseinstadt concentration camp. (I compared it to The Producers, and specifically to “Springtime for Hitler,” the musical-within-the-musical, described by its deranged creator as “a gay romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden.”) The quote in question averred that the questions about Nazi era Germans and how they responded to their leaders had a great deal to teach us about America over the past decade — an observation of which the best that can be said is that it is a bit more tasteful than the very notion of a musical set at Thereseinstadt.

The writers and creators of Signs of Life, evidently thrilled that anybody is willing to write about them at all, have fired a broadside at me using the old “how can he criticize our show without seeing it” gambit:

You are well-known as a protector of the memory of the Holocaust and as someone who, by his own admission, knows “the lyrics to every show tune ever written.” We were therefore dismayed to read your post on Commentary about our new off-Broadway musical, Signs of Life. Your casually insulting aside about the “wonderfully tuneful” quality of the show-which as far as we can tell you have not seen-is irresponsible enough, but to make the ugly accusation that we believe “the Holocaust exists as a dramatic trope to teach us lessons about America in the age of Bush” is contemptible.

The characters in our show must participate in the Nazi propaganda machine in order to survive; when they realize the implications of their participation they face ethical choices that endanger their lives. But the obligation of citizens across the political spectrum to question our leaders and evaluate the truth of their answers did not end on V-Day.

The idea you seem to advocate-that if you put an event as vastly horrific as the Holocaust onstage you should do it as a museum piece, rather than exploring what we might learn from it about human nature-implies that today’s society is no longer capable of a Holocaust, which is a position both false and dangerous.

We would like to invite you to see Signs of Life and to judge based on experience rather than distortion and mockery whether our show honors the memory of those slaughtered in the Holocaust. Please e-mail us and we’ll arrange tickets for whatever date you’d like.

Now, while I do place myself very much on the anti side on the admittedly complex aesthetic question of using the Holocaust as an artistic setting — and, not incidentally, on the anti side when it comes to the use of the musical form as a vehicle for the serious treatment of just about any topic, notwithstanding my deep love of musicals and the American songbook they created — that wasn’t the reason I wrote the item. I wrote the item because of something the show’s composer, Joel Derfner, said. Which was this: “The message of our show is not ‘Killing Jews is bad.’ It’s: ‘What do you do when you find out you’ve been lied to? What is telling the truth worth?’ In the last 30 years this question has been vital to American life and especially so in the last nine years.”

Now let’s parse this. What happened 30 years ago in this country? Ronald Reagan’s election. What happened nine years ago? George W. Bush’s inauguration. Who’s making repulsive and unwarranted associations now? The Signs of Life team is right that someone said something contemptible, but it wasn’t I.

And thanks for the invitation, but I’ll pass; I already did my time years ago when, courtesy of P.J. O’Rourke, who secured it from God-knows-where, I once read the entirety of the screenplay for the Jerry Lewis epic, The Day the Clown Cried.

Well, before we could stop ourselves, we wrote a response to his response to our response.

Another Open Letter to John Podhoretz:

Upon learning that you were pressured into reading the screenplay for The Day The Clown Cried, we are left with nothing but compassion. No one could emerge from such an experience unscathed, and we will be sure to pen an angry letter to P.J. O'Rourke.

We will simply point out:

We seem to have hit the exact intersection of your two beliefs that the Holocaust is unsuitable as a subject for art and that the musical is a form unsuited for serious subjects. Though we clearly disagree with both points (and look for support to pieces like Shostakovitch’s Symphony No. 13, Anna Sokolow’s dance piece Dreams, and Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret on the first and Show Boat, West Side Story, and, well, Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret on the second), we understand that your beliefs reflect the same goal we have—to do honor to the memory of the Shoah.

And to be clear: we believe that the Shoah transcends partisan politics, and we did not write Signs of Life to send a partisan message; the lessons to be found in it are moral ones. No single piece of art can hope to encompass the Shoah, and Signs of Life does not try: it deals with the specific perversities of Theresienstadt, and must therefore grapple with issues of truth and power, representation and reality. We explore what happens when leaders lie to their citizens. You and Joel undoubtedly have different ideas about which American leaders have done so over the course of the last few decades, but you also undoubtedly agree that these remain vital issues no matter who is in power.

In writing Signs of Life, we have tried to treat the material with honesty, and survivors of Theresienstadt, the only real judges, have consistently told us that they saw their own experiences mirrored accurately and without sentimentality onstage. We'd like to renew our invitation for you to see the show, perhaps with P.J. O'Rourke. We suspect you won't take us up on it, but we'd love to offer you the opportunity to base your criticism of Signs of Life on experience.

Yours truly,

Joel Derfner (composer)

Len Schiff (lyricist)

Peter Ullian (bookwriter)

To order tickets to Signs of Life: A Tale of Terezin, click here.

To find out what critics and audiences are saying about Signs of Life, click here.

To visit the Signs of Life website, click here.

To find out more about Signs of Life off-Broadway, click here.

To visit the Signs of Life Facebook page, click here.

To visit Peter Ullian's Website, click here.

To find Peter Ullian's "Fan" Page on Facebook, click here.

To read Signs of Life Lyricist Len Schiff's blog, click here.

To visit Signs of Life composer Joel Derfner's website, click here.

To read Signs of Life composer Joel Derfner's blog, click here.

To visit director Jeremy Dobrish's website, click here.

Signs of Life: Audience and Critics

What the Critics Are Saying About Signs of Life:

A lot of talent and some fine voices are on display in Signs of Life.
- N. Genzlinger, The New York Times

Signs of Life is a beautiful and haunting drama. Stuart Zagnit is heartbreaking ... Erika Amato is exceptional.
- Iris Greenberger, Show Business

The play’s themes of hope and the strength of the human spirit should resonate with everyone. Flawless acting by the entire cast.
- PM Entertainment

With minimal props and an often haunting musical score, a dedicated ensemble earnestly explores what survival means after everything is lost. Jason Collins stands out as the self-serving but supportive cabaret performer, Kurt Gerard. Erika Amato gives a passionate performance as Berta ... her "Home Again Soon," about the suffering Polish children in the camp is one of the most poignant songs. An anthem performed by the company in the finale, ‘Find A Way to Live,’ builds into a rousing harmonic declaration of human spirit. - Elizabeth Ahlfors, Curtain Up

Signs of Life treats this subject matter respectfully, but not solemnly - allowing many different emotions to slip through, not just anger and despair. The writers, Peter Ullian (book), Len Schiff (lyrics) and Joel Derfner (music), acknowledge that even in Terezin there are moments of happiness, love and hope ... Signs of Life brings a unique look at a forgotten period in time. Erika Amato plays Berta, a Jewish wife dumped by her German businessman husband. She wears her emotions openly and sings with a voice that tears at your heart. Her portrayal of Berta is aching. Wilson Bridges as Simon, Lorelei’s love interest, is also an amazing talent. Mr. Bridges’ voice is wonderful and his acting is great. Jeremy Dobrish directs this relatively big show in a small space with expertise, fully taking advantage of the knowledge the audience brings in with them. Particular kudos have to be given to Alexis Distler. Her set designs are beautifully understated and reveal themselves slowly, mirroring the characters’ emotional growth.
- Scott Mitchell, Music OMH

What the Public Is Saying About Signs of Life:

Signs of Life will come and out and grab you in the first scene and will not let go until you jump to your feet for an ovation after the final number. The cast is superb and the production is simply brilliant, but don't take my word for it -- just go see it.
- LD, New York Times Reader Review

From the opening scene, until the moving and uplifting finale, Signs of Life is a most remarkable musical drama. This is a play that will stay with you, long after you leave the theater.
- SM, New York Times Reader Review

Not knowing what to expect from a musical about the Holocaust, I was extremely impressed and very much moved by Signs of Life. Some standout performances by the cast, notably the accomplished veteran Stuart Zagnit, delivering a layered, genuine performance in strong, emotive voice, as the caring and selfless grandfather, and the young Patricia Noonan who deftly captivates in the lead, bringing us along on her journey, with a nearly flawless ensemble cast. Creative staging and strong direction by Jeremy Dobrish supported by a beautifully haunting score by Joel Derfner made the play speak with eloquence and dignity. This is what theater does best -- reach us, teach us, and take us there with the actors as they play out their stories with an immediacy and intimacy this little theater venue promotes. It is an experience most satisfying and uniquely human. That ain't just entertainment.
– DiHavens, New York Times Reader Review

We need to remember these stories. Thank God we have this wonderful work of theatre to help us to remember. Thank God for Signs of Life. As a daughter of Holocaust survivors, I thank everyone connected with this show.
- Suzanne Z, New York Times Reader Review

This is a brilliant, compelling, moving, rich and beautiful work. The subject is difficult but one leaves with a deeper understanding of the evil of the Holocaust and a profound emotional reaction to the outstanding cast, acting, and music. If you want theater to move you, increase your understanding, underscore your humanity and live with you forever you should see this program. Five stars.
- Cs, New York Times Reader Review

We were profoundly affected with appreciation for how this topic was so poignantly produced. The music was glorious. The actors/singers had beautiful light opera/musical comedy voices. The ensemble worked well together. The scenery was imaginative and just perfect! This is a production to see, feel and appreciate!
- Ann, Goldstar Member Review

Signs of Life was fabulous. The actors were extremely talented, as were the playwright and lyricist! Having just gotten back from Prague, with a side trip to Terezin, the play just brought me to a higher level of insight as to the entire ordeal. I was brought to tears numerous times during the production. Bravo to everyone who took part in this play.
- Kathi Cohen, Goldstar Member Review

Photo credits: Yancey Hughes (author), Joan Marcus (production)

To order tickets to Signs of Life: A Tale of Terezin, click here.

To visit the Signs of Life website, click here.

To find out more about Signs of Life off-Broadway, click here.

To visit the Signs of Life Facebook page, click here.

To visit Peter Ullian's Website, click here.

To find Peter Ullian's "Fan" Page on Facebook, click here.

To read Signs of Life Lyricist Len Schiff's blog, click here.

To visit Signs of Life composer Joel Derfner's website, click here.

To read Signs of Life composer Joel Derfner's blog, click here.

To visit director Jeremy Dobrish's website, click here.

An Open Letter to John Podhoretz

A few days ago, an article in the New York Times mentioned our new show, Signs of Life, and quoted Joel Derfner, the composer, talking about some of the resonances the piece has in society today. John Podhoretz, neoconservative columnist for the New York Post and editor of Commentary magazine, took exception to Joel's word and wrote this:

SPRINGTIME FOR DUBYA?

by John Podhoretz

I’m sure you’re looking forward to the new off-Broadway musical, “Signs of Life,” which offers what promises to be a wonderfully tuneful look at the Thereseinstadt concentration camp. But it turns out, according to tomorrow’s New York Times, that the musical really isn’t about the Holocaust after all, which is probably a wise thing, since The Producers got there first with its signature number, “Springtime for Hitler.” No, it turns out, the Holocaust exists as a dramatic trope to teach us lessons about America in the age of Bush:

That show, which had its premiere on Thursday, centers on Lorelei, an artist who agrees to create pretty pictures of the camp for Nazi propaganda but who, with other prisoners, schemes to get her drawings of the real horrors to the outside world.

“The message of our show is not ‘Killing Jews is bad,’ ” Mr. Derfner said. “It’s: ‘What do you do when you find out you’ve been lied to? What is telling the truth worth?’ In the last 30 years this question has been vital to American life and especially so in the last nine years.”

No, this is not, as they say, from The Onion.

We were taken aback by the post, and we would like to respond by posting the following open letter to Mr. Podhoretz.

Dear Mr. Podhoretz:

You are well-known as a protector of the memory of the Shoah and as someone who, by his own admission, knows "the lyrics to every show tune ever written." We were therefore dismayed to read your post on Commentary about our new off-Broadway musical, Signs of Life. Your casually insulting aside about the “wonderfully tuneful” quality of the show—which as far as we can tell you have not seen—is irresponsible enough, but to make the ugly accusation that we believe “the Holocaust exists as a dramatic trope to teach us lessons about America in the age of Bush” is contemptible.

The characters in our show must participate in the Nazi propaganda machine in order to survive; when they realize the implications of their participation they face ethical choices that endanger their lives. But the obligation of citizens across the political spectrum to question our leaders and evaluate the truth of their answers did not end on V-Day.

The idea you seem to advocate—that if you put an event as vastly horrific as the Holocaust onstage you should do it as a museum piece, rather than exploring what we might learn from it about human nature—implies that today’s society is no longer capable of a Shoah, which is a position both false and dangerous.

We would like to invite you to see Signs of Life and to judge based on experience rather than distortion and mockery whether our show honors the memory of those slaughtered in the Shoah. Please e-mail us and we’ll arrange tickets for whatever date you’d like.

Yours truly,

Joel Derfner (composer)

Len Schiff (lyricist)

Peter Ullian (bookwriter)

To order tickets to Signs of Life: A Tale of Terezin, click here.

To visit the Signs of Life website, click here.

To find out more about Signs of Life off-Broadway, click here.

To visit the Signs of Life Facebook page, click here.

To visit Peter Ullian's Website, click here.

To find Peter Ullian's "Fan" Page on Facebook, click here.

To read Signs of Life Lyricist Len Schiff's blog, click here.

To visit Signs of Life composer Joel Derfner's website, click here.

To read Signs of Life composer Joel Derfner's blog, click here.

To visit director Jeremy Dobrish's website, click here.