Peter Ullian - Blog

Oinkie and Schlomo's Hip-Hop Pesach

2011-04-18T13:45:00.005-04:00

Gonna tell you the story of a guy named Moses
He was not a guy to stop and smell the roses
He had a minor speech impediment
So his brother Aaron helped explain just what he meant

Now the Jews in Egypt, they all were slaves
And G-d told Moses, “man that be totally lame.”
G-d appeared as a bush on fire.
And said to Moses, “dude you just been hired.”

“Go on back to Egypt Land
And tell old Pharaoh to adopt a new plan
Every person on earth deserves to be free
Like the fishies in the ocean and birdies in the trees”

Now Moses he was scared as heck
That mean old Pharaoh would wring his neck
But he bucked up his courage and went to get the job done
When G-d speaks you listen, ‘cause he be the only one.

Moses went to Pharaoh and he said “hey dude.
Forgive my impertinence, I don’t mean to be rude
But I’m sent to tell you, oh Pharaoh
That the time is now to let my people go.”

But Pharaoh he said “absolutely no way.
Who will build my temples and my super highways?
Them pyramids don’t put up themselves
Moses, take that freedom talk and put it on the shelves”

Moses said, “dude I gotta tell you true
Let my people go or Ten Plagues will fall on you
We’re talking froggies, boils, darkness and death”
But Pharaoh still said no, and Moses was distressed.

First came the blood, but Pharaoh didn’t budge
Then came frogs, leaping out of the mud
Then came the gnats, driving people mad
And then wild beasts, which were also really bad

Then came diseases that made the cows sick
Then came the boils that made people say “ick!”
Then came the hail that fell down upon their heads
And then the locusts ate all the grain for making bread

Then came the darkness, blotting out the light
And then Angel of Death, and Pharaoh gave up the fight
He said, “Go, Moses, all your people can be free.”
But Pharaoh changed his mind and caught them at the Red Sea.

The Jews had left in a hurry, their bread was flat and dry
Pharaoh wanted to force them into the sea to die
For the Jewish people, this could have been end
But the rules of physics were about to bend.

Moses, he parted all the waters
And if Pharaoh had been just a little bit smarter
He would have stopped and not sent his soldiers to attack
But instead he lost his army when the waters went back

The Jews all made it to the far side of the sea
Miriam lead the dancing because they all were free
With freedom comes great responsibility
So let’s make sure all people share in our freedomosity.

Passover Arts Event at BHA!

2011-03-24T19:43:00.001-04:00

BEACON HEBREW ALLIANCE

Presents

PASSOVER ARTS

Sunday, April 3

2:30 p.m.

PUPPET SHOW

written and presented by Beacon-based playwright Peter Ullian

Book-signing and reading

of Julie Wohl’s “Siddur Mah Tov”

Children’s art project

four-panel project on the “Four Questions,” led by Julie Wohl

Holiday songs and dances

led by BHA Cantor Ellen Gersh

Refreshments will be served

FREE ADMISSION!

Beacon Hebrew Alliance

331 Verplanck Ave. (corner of Fishkill Ave.), Beacon

845-831-2012

Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds on WI

2011-03-01T14:23:00.002-05:00

Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds - COBUG

February 23, 2011

The Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds (COBUG) hereby declares its support of and solidarity with the public sector unions of Wisconsin who have come under attack by the Governor of that state.

It is one thing to ask for givebacks from labor to help balance the budget in the form of wage cuts and higher contributions to sustain welfare and pension plans. But to aim at the fundamental rights of trade unions to collectively bargain over working conditions, to collect dues, to represent their members – these actions are nothing less than an all out assault against the basic underpinnings of the labor movement.

COBUG urges all of its members to stand by their Wisconsin sisters and brothers by speaking out against the legislative measures proposed by Governor Walker. We must stand together to rebuff this onslaught against organized labor – whether public or private. The right of all trade unions to legitimately negotiate and represent their members is at stake.

The members of COBUG have labor contracts or work for or with the Broadway League. COBUG was established to strengthen the position of Unions and Guilds within the industry, to participate in decision making that affects Broadway and the art and craft of theatre at large, and to educate the broader community about the collective role Coalition members play in keeping our industry vibrant and healthy.

Founding Member Organizations:
Actors’ Equity Association
American Federation of Musicians
American Guild of Musical Artists
Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers (ATPAM)
Dramatists Guild of America
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees
IATSE Local One (Stagehands)
IATSE Local 306 (Ushers and Ticket Takers)
IATSE Local 751 (Ticket Sellers)
IATSE Local 764 (Wardrobe)
IATSE 798 (Make-up and Hair)
IATSE Local USA 829 (United Scenic Artists)
Local 30 (Operating Engineers)
Local 802 (American Federation of Musicians)
SEIU Local 32BJ (Theatre Division)
Stage Directors and Choreographers Society
IBT Local 817 (Theatrical Teamsters)

Wolfshead: A True Tale of Robin Hood: Chapter the Seventeenth.

2011-02-20T12:04:00.000-05:00

New Chapter!

Wolfshead: A True Tale of Robin Hood: Chapter the Seventeenth.: "In Which Marian Tells of How She Returned to Sherwood, Interrupted a Pagan Festival, Drank Uisge Beatha, Danced with Robin, and Reported H..."

Creative Writing Classes Begin Feb. 6

2011-01-28T11:51:00.004-05:00

If anyone is in the Mid-Hudson Valley area for ten weeks starting Sunday, February 6, I'll be teaching four creative writing classes at Echo on Main Street, in Beacon, NY for grades K-2, 3-5, Middle/HS, and adult. Check out the descriptions below:

Playwriting and Puppets.

Grades K to 2, meets 2-3pm Sunday

Every week kids will collaboratively write a new mini-play, to be performed at the end of class by an accomplished duo of performing puppets.

Length: 10 weeks. Tuition: $100

Instructor: Peter Ullian

Playwriting for Kids.

Grades 3 to 5, meets 3-4pm Sunday

Each week kids will collaboratively create and perform short plays.

Length: 10 weeks. Tuition: $100

Instructor: Peter Ullian

Creative Writing for Teens.

Grades: Middle/HS, meets 4-5pm Sunday

A series of creative writing exercises designed to unleash the teen writer's voice.

Length: 10 weeks. Tuition: $125

Instructor: Peter Ullian

Unleashing Your Creative Writer.

Adults, meets 5-6pm Sunday

A series of creative writing exercises designed to unleash the adult writer's voice.

Length: 10 weeks. Tuition: $150

Instructor: Peter Ullian

Peter Ullian is an award-winning author of fiction published in periodicals and anthologies, screenplays for independent and major motion picture studios, and plays and musicals produced off-Broadway and at major regional Theaters.

You can sign up in person at Echo, or by e-mailing echo at: echoboutique@optonline.net.

You can also find them on Facebook by clicking here.

2010's Ten Memorable Theater Moments You Might Have Missed 2011/01/01 Page 2

2011-01-01T12:19:00.003-05:00

2010's Ten Memorable Theater Moments You Might Have Missed 2011/01/01 Page 2

Nice Way to Start 2011: Signs of Life Makes Broadway World.Com's list of "2010's Ten Memorable Theater Moments You Might Have Missed!" To quote:

"Members of the Freedom Party, who protested outside Broadway performances of The Scottsboro Boys, passed out flyers that asked, "Where is the song and dance musical about gas chambers?" Well, if they had ventured Off-Broadway this year they would have found it in Signs of Life, Peter Ullian, Len Schiff and Joel Derfner's musical drama about the Theresienstadt concentration camp; the Nazi's "City For The Jews," which was intended to appear as a safe and nurturing artist colony when inspected by the Red Cross. A musical-within-the-musical scene had Jewish prisoners, under the threat of being sent to the death camp of Auschwitz, partaking in a merry theatrical jamboree. With so many still under the impression that adding song and dance can only trivialize serious issues, it was a daring move for the creators of this ambitious musical."

Read more: http://broadwayworld.com/article/2010s_Ten_Memorable_Theater_Moments_You_Might_Have_Missed_20010101_page2#ixzz19nvS8Bzt

Happy, Happy Hanukkah!

2010-12-01T11:05:00.004-05:00

Please enjoy this video:

If you're reading this on Facebook, you probably won't see the video link. Try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOegH4uYe-c

HAPPY HANUKKAH!

Flight of the Lawnchair Man - Upcoming Productions

2010-11-07T17:25:00.002-05:00

November 13, 2010 - November 14, 2010
North Catholic High School
Pittsburgh, PA

December 10, 2010 - December 10, 2010
Denver School of the Arts
Denver, CO

May 14, 2011 - June 5, 2011
Rialto Community Players
Rialto, CA

June 16, 2011 - June 25, 2011
Timberlake Playhouse
Mount Carroll, IL

September 30, 2011 - October 9, 2011
Blue Springs High School
Blue Springs, MO

Lawnchair Man, Live Arts Charlottesville | Tickets and Events

2010-11-07T17:08:00.002-05:00

Live Arts Charlottesville | Tickets and Events

Flight of the Lawnchair Man, coming up, Summer 2011!

Wolfshead: A True Tale of Robin Hood: Chapter the Eleventh: In Which Marcus of Kent Rec...

2010-11-05T17:51:00.000-04:00

Wolfshead: A True Tale of Robin Hood: Chapter the Eleventh: In Which Marcus of Kent Rec...: "The Sheriff and his men were quite persistent. They chased us all the way back to Sherwood and into the forest itself for..."

L'Shana Tovah!

2010-09-08T15:58:00.001-04:00

An Earth Day Poem

2010-04-22T21:40:00.005-04:00

O Earth, O Earth, I love you so.

If not for you, where would I go?
My house would not sit on the ground,
But lost in space, would float around.
And if, perchance, I had to pee,
I could not behind a tree.
I could drink no Scotch nor eat a peach,
Nor take a walk upon a beach.
I could not swim nude but in my dreams
Without your oceans, lakes and streams.

For you, I sort my paper and glass,
And support efforts to limit the production of greenhouse gas.

O, Earth, O, Earth, you are so grand!
I love your dirt, your snow, your sand!
I love your bobcats, bears and hawks!
Your birds that chirp and birds that squawk!
I don’t adore your twisters and quakes.
But, still, I think you’re pretty great.
You give me sun, shade and food,
O, Earth, you are so awesome, Dude.

To visit Peter Ullian's Website, click here.

To learn about plays by Peter Ullian, click here.

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

To follow Peter Ullian on Twitter, click here.

Capture the Flag: A Trilogy

2010-04-09T16:38:00.013-04:00

My latest project, hot from the printer:

Capture the Flag: A Trilogy

Capture the Flag Trilogy: three stand-alone, independent plays that follow two families from the election of 2000 through the invasion of Iraq. Designed to be performed as separate dramas, none of the plays require foreknowledge of the other; but taken together, they form a cohesive story.

1. Assisted Regime Change

In the weeks leading up to the election of 2000, Waylon Cruz returns to his hometown on a Florida Gulf Coast barrier island, following the death of both his parents in a boating accident. There, he falls in love with Kingsley Shakespeare, a pot-smoking, Jewish Jamaican-American schoolteacher, who is unfortunately already dating Teddy Junior, Waylon’s boyhood friend and the outrageously foul-mouthed son of the Island’s police chief, Big Ted. Big Ted is stocking up on vegetable seeds and fishing nets in case of an unspecified millennial natural or man-made disaster, and pressuring Kingsley to give a passing grade to a high school basketball star who never attended a single one of her classes. Meanwhile, Big Ted’s young new wife, Eudora, fears her husband’s affections are wandering, and asks help from Teddy Junior. Teddy Junior agrees, but soon finds himself growing increasingly obsessed with his younger stepmother. Then Waylon starts to wonder if the accident that killed his parents perhaps wasn’t quite so accidental after all. 3M, 2W.

2. Bloodless

Steve Rogers works for the CIA. On September 10, 2001 he’s given an assignment he deplores: destabilize the Venezuelan economy and assist in the removal of Hugo Chávez. Meanwhile, Sarah Rogers, his pregnant wife, is suffering from schizophrenic hallucinations and trying to hold on her to her sanity while hiding her mental illness from her husband. Unbeknownst to Sarah, her best friend, Trinidad Ibáñez, is secretly in love with Steve, and Commander Marcos Pérez Kronen, an anti-Chávez conspirator, is falling hard for Sarah. An imaginative look behind the events that culminated in a coup attempt against Hugo Chávez in 2002. 4M, 3W.

3. The Bush Doctrine

During the early days of the invasion of Iraq, Steve and Sarah Rogers move to Calusa Island. When a local woman is murdered, Police Chief Waylon Cruz quickly narrows the suspects down to two: a neighborhood drug dealer . . . or Steve Rogers. Meanwhile, Sarah Rogers becomes the drug dealer’s number one customer, and Waylon wonders if his wife, Kingsley, is having an affair with Steve. Then the murdered woman’s identical twin sister shows up. 3 M, 4W.

To visit Peter Ullian's Website, click here.

To find out more about these and other plays by Peter Ullian, click here.

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

To follow Peter Ullian on Twitter, click here.

What I Learned About Playwriting From My Dad

2010-03-23T09:30:00.007-04:00

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

2010-03-15T12:30:00.005-04:00

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

2010-03-08T16:06:00.005-05:00

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

2010-03-08T10:48:00.004-05:00

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

2010-03-05T14:23:00.006-05:00

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.

Signs of Life on Stage: Week One

2010-02-22T10:36:00.007-05:00

Signs of Life: A Tale of Terezin has been in previews since February 16th. We officially open February 25.

I am so deeply grateful to everyone who made this happen: the producers, the director, the choreographer, the music director, the orchestrator, the creative team, the designers, the production staff, the producing staff, the theatre staff, the crew, the musicians, the house management, the casting director, the technical director, the marketing team, the stage management team, the production supervisor, the press agent, and the amazing cast. And anyone else I failed to mention. It is so profoundly satisfying to see something on stage that is everything you imagined and hoped to would be, and more.

We've had some very enthusiastic audiences. Two, in particular, meant a lot to me.

After the Saturday, 3pm show, two women approached me. They had not spent time at Terezin, but they were both survivors of the Shoah. They explained that they were not sure they wanted to see the show, as they found wanting most efforts to address this subject. But they were both very glad they had seen it. They were generous in their enthusiasm for the show. They said they really appreciated its lack of sentimentality. They cited specific moments that they found deeply truthful.

No matter what happens after we open, theirs is the review that will always mean the most to me.

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 learn more about Peter Ullian's non-musical plays, click here (website contains material intended for mature audiences).

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.

It Really Does Take a Village

2010-02-12T21:55:00.009-05:00

I screwed up.

The Signs of Life program has gone to the printers, and I failed to give the credit to the people who really, really made my contribution to this show possible.

I'm speaking, of course, about the people who took care of my kids while I attended rehearsals.

Most of the people I know who work in the theatre are either independently wealthy, don't have kids, or no longer work professionally in the theatre. It's very hard to be a working theatre professional and have kids. Some people do it. Not many.

Although my work has entertained, and continues to entertain, thousands of people around the world, like most playwrights, I don't make a huge amount of money. That's just the economic reality of writing for the theatre. The trade-off is that I write what I'm inspired to write, and, when push comes to shove (which is rare, but happens), no one can force me to write what I don't believe in.

I have been extraordinary fortunate in my career working within this economic model. I've worked with some of America's top directors (Harold Prince, Lynne-Taylor Corbett, David Esbjornson, Jeremy Dobrish) and at some of America's preeminent theatres (En Garde Arts, the Denver Theatre Center, the Cleveland Public Theatre, HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art, Goodspeed Musicals, The Directors Company, the Cleveland Playhouse, the Prince Music Theatre, the Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre, and Amas Musical Theatre). I've collaborated with some of the best people in the business, including Joel Derfner and Len Schiff on Signs of Life. My work has been brought to life by some of the best actors out there, including the current great cast soon to be appearing in Signs of Life at the Marjorie Deane. I've written work I am proud of, and had the honor of seeing it fully staged in front of enthusiastic and supportive audiences.

I've not, however, made a whole lot of money. But that's OK. If I had made choices that made money, I might not now have such satisfying work to show for my efforts.

Even so, one of my major challenges since my son, Alexander, was born nine years ago, followed by his brother, Caleb, six years ago, is trying to be a full-time parent and a full-time playwright in the same twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. Being a primary caregiver is as demanding a job as any, but, of course, you don't get paid for it. Being a playwright is also a demanding job, but you don't rake in the cash doing that either. When my kids were born, I couldn't justify spending money on a full-time nanny, nor did our family budget support such an expense.

So, I wrote during nap-times and after the kids went to bed at night, when I wasn't too tired from changing diapers and chasing my kids around the playground all afternoon. When Alexander was a baby, our friend Monica Mikolajczyk came over on numerous occasions and cared for him while I finished the first draft of Signs of Life. When we lived in Inwood, in Manhattan, Anna and Eileen McCarthy, two sisters from the neighborhood, would look after Alexander from time to time when I had a deadline to meet. They charged way too little for their incredibly nurturing care.

Later, after my family moved to Beacon, sixty miles north of NYC, my father, Dr. Robert Ullian (who passed away in 2005), generously provided funds to pay for an occasional babysitter so I could keep writing. Anna and Eileen McCarthy would drive or take the train up to Beacon to look after my kids when they could. Both my father and my mother came to stay and take care of the boys for short periods of time when I had to be away. My wife, Michele, despite working a full-time and extremely demanding job in the city, would work from home on days when I absolutely had to be somewhere else. Sometimes, I'd take the kids into the city for a meeting, and their uncles, Lawrence Sohner and Barry Greene, would care for them for an afternoon. Once, I left the kids with Michele's mother, Genevieve, at the Central Park zoo, while I went to auditions. And, finally, now that both Alexander and Caleb are full-time students, South Avenue Elementary School provides a safe and nurturing environment for my boys between the hours of 8:40am and 3:10pm, while I work on revising Signs of Life for production.

During the Signs of Life rehearsal period, my Mom has come down to stay with us and care for the kids for three separate week-long periods. Michele has worked from home on several days when it was not convenient to do so. And our good friends and fellow South Avenue parents, Tyease and Waldren Levers, along with their oldest daughter, Brittany, have, on several occasions, picked up my kids from school and entertained and cared for them until my wife or I got back from the city.

And my wife, G-d bless her, is the hardest working woman I know, working her tush off to always make sure her family always had food on the table, a roof over our head, gas in the tank, and decent health insurance.

So, I really need to thank all these people whose names do not appear in the program. They, as much as anyone, made Signs of Life possible:

Robert Ullian
Annette Ullian
Michele Ullian
Anna McCarthy
Eileen McCarthy
Monica Mikolajczyk
Genevieve Sohner
Lawrence Sohner
Barry Greene
Tyease Levers
Waldren Levers
Brittany Levers
The teachers and staff at South Avenue Elementary School

And, finally, Alexander and Caleb, who inspire me every day.

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 learn more about Peter Ullian's non-musical plays, click here (website contains material intended for mature audiences).

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.

You're Writing a Musical About What?

2010-02-05T08:01:00.015-05:00

"You're writing a musical about what?"

I can't tell you how often I've heard this question while working on Signs of Life: A Tale of Terezin.

The question always surprises me a little. After all Showboat, widely regarded as the first modern American musical, involves racism and miscegenation; Oklahoma! features murder and attempted rape; South Pacific addresses racism and war; West Side Story enacts scenes of gang warfare; Cabaret and Sound of Music both take place during the rise of the Nazi Party; Sweeney Todd's main character is a serial killer; and Assassins is about, well, assassins.

The question, I imagine, is due to what we've come to expect our American musicals to be: big, delightful pageants, all-out comedies, or shows that treat the musical form "ironically." Contemporary opera, on the other hand, routinely addresses big, serious subjects: John Adam's Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer come readily to mind.

This is simply a question of fashion, however. It has nothing to do with any inherent limitation in musical form, as the history of the American musical clearly shows.

There are complicated issues involved in representing difficult and tragic real-life events on stage. But the musical idiom can handle those issues as readily as any.

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 Peter Ullian's Website, click here.

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

To visit the Signs of Life Facebook page, 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.

Making Nazis Sing

2010-01-27T12:40:00.013-05:00

Signs of Life's lyricist, Len Schiff, just wrote on this very subject on his own blog. So, I'll put in my two cents not so much on the subject of singing Nazis, but, rather, the choices involved in creating characters on stage who are Nazi soldiers.

Writing any type of narrative fiction in which Nazis are characters is, of course, a challenge. You don't want to create obvious, goose-stepping archetypes, even if it sometimes seems as if the historical Nazis were intent upon turning themselves into just that. If you are to be true to yourself as a dramatist, you need to make an effort to find out what makes a person tick, no matter how repulsive that person may be. The Nazis were evil, let's not wiggle around that essential truth -- if "evil" has any meaning, the Nazis were its embodiment. The challenge to the dramatist is to recognize they were evil human beings, not evil cartoon characters; they were monstrous, but they were monstrous people, not monstrous melodrama villains. They had hopes and desires. They had families. They loved their children and their pets. And they perpetrated one of the greatest crimes in human history.

How do you reconcile these two realities? How do you get inside the head of such people? Is it possible to understand them? And if you understand them, does that mean, on some level, you sympathize with them? Are you asking the audience to sympathize them? Do you want them to?

Well, my answer is no. I do not want anyone to sympathize with the Nazi characters in Signs of Life. Even fictional Nazis do not deserve our sympathy.

But I do want those characters in our show to be compelling, to be worth the audience's time, and to feel like real people, not stereotypes.

So, how do you get there?

While undoubtedly volumes can be written on the various personality types who made up the Nazi Party, two types of people intrigued me the most, perhaps because they were the two types I felt I best understood, having seen less extreme versions of them in our own day and age: the cynic and the true believer. The cynic embraces the Nazi ideology for personal gain, to advance his career, to seize power, and to maintain a secure place for himself in society. The true believer actually believes in the Nazi ideology. He is, in a very disturbing way, an idealist.

In our show, Commandant Rahm is the cynic. Officer Heindel is the true believer. I still ask myself which one is the more reprehensible, more truly evil. I don't think there is ultimately any answer to that question.

This focus on these two characters got me started, but I need to dig deeper. I had some insight into why some of the Nazis did what they did, but I still had a hard time figuring out how they could possible have done it.

Joel Derfner, Signs of Life's composer, and I visited Terezin in 2002, when my son, Alexander, was less than two years old. I remember walking around Terezin, and looking at the wall upon which is written the names of all the children who passed through that "model" ghetto: 15,000, of whom only 132 survived.

I just couldn't understand it. It's one thing to convince oneself that a group of people are deserving of hatred. I thought I could imagine that. But how could anyone actually look at a living, breathing child and treat him or her with such disregard of their common humanity? People say that the Nazis didn't view Jewish children as human. True. But how often have you seen people treat animals with the kind of capricious cruelty with which the Nazis treated the Jews? There's a special kind of cruelty that people reserve for other people.

The epiphany that opened the door for me was a small item I encountered in my research:

Suicide rates were high among the SS Einsatzgruppen, the Nazis death squads whose job in the early years of the Shoah was to murder Jews by hand. The reason the Nazis invented the gas chambers was to try to put some distance between the victims and their executioners, in the hope of bringing down the suicide among the SS.

One is first struck by the horrific irony of this. It did not seem to occur to the Nazis that what they were doing violated all standards of human decency. Instead, they decided a more efficient means of slaughter was required.

But upon reflection, I wondered, why was the SS suicide rate high? Why were people who acted without conscience troubled enough to take their own lives? If the actions they were engaged in were so objectionable, why did they willingly take those actions in the first place, and continue to do so?

My conclusion was that, at least for some, while they could not possiblly have had any conscious qualms about what they were doing (or else they could not have continued to do it), on an unconscious level something deeply human inside of them was rebelling, something that they were not fully aware of.

This I found to be cold comfort. On the one hand, it's good to know that some form of human decency exists on an instinctual level. On the other hand, it's horrifying to think that this instinct can be so successfully tamped down as to result in the murder of millions.

It's this contradiction we've tried to explore in the character of Heindel in Signs of Life: A Tale of Terezin. We are not seeking sympathy or "understanding." But we have endeavored to treat our audience with enough respect to offer them portraits of human beings rather than caricatures.

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

To visit the Signs of Life Facebook page, 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.

SIGNS OF LIFE: A Tale of Terezin Part Three: Origins, Chapter Two.

2009-12-18T13:09:00.014-05:00

Producer Virginia Criste commissioned me to write the libretto for Signs of Life: A Tale of Terezin in 2000.

At the time, my wife was pregnant. I had a production of Eliot Ness In Cleveland coming up at the Cleveland Playhouse, directed by David Esbjornson, and, immediately after, a production of Flight of the Lawnchair Man coming up at the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia, directed by Hal Prince. Meanwhile, the election of 2000, with all the ensuing recounts and hanging chads, went on.

It was a busy year. The research was daunting. I had stacks and stacks of books to read, videos to view, music to listen to (in a future blog entry I'll post a partial bibliography). And it was rough stuff. I was researching a ghetto (Theresienstadt, or Terezin) where the Nazis sent entire families, told them to create art, music and theatre for propaganda purposes, then sent them away to die in Auschwitz. The most powerful material for me was the artwork that survived, depicting life in Terezin in all its misery, but also in all its complexity, including, sometimes, joy. In particular, Bedrich Fritta's drawings to his son Tommy for his third birthday, were extraordinarily moving to me. At that time, I could only see them in a video, Terezin Diary.

I remember the project started to take shape for me over a long Thanksgiving weekend. My wife Michele and I were visiting her family in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Our return to New York was delayed by a massive snow storm. I hunkered down with some books and by the time the snow was cleared, I began to see how I might craft a libretto from this material.

I chose not to tell the story of any one historical personage. It felt wrong to do that, like stealing someone's life. But real people and real stories were the foundation of the libretto, in a fictionalized and theatricalized form.

I was planning on finishing the first draft in early February, 2001. But my son Alexander was born about a week earlier than his official due date. This threw off my schedule. I had everything worked out almost to the minute. But life, as always, had plans of its own.

About six weeks later, I emerged from my new father haze, and finished the libretto. Virginia expressed her enthusiasm for my efforts, and we set about finding a composer and a lyricist. At one point, I thought I might try to write the lyrics myself, but after making an effort to do so, I decided I much preferred to hoist that responsibility onto someone else.

First, Joel Derfner came on board as composer. Not long after, Joel and I met with Len Schiff. I remember after the meeting turning to Joel and saying, "you realize he's much smarter than either one of us." Joel agreed he was, and Len became our lyricist.

We spent the next several years writing, rewriting, reading, and workshopping the show. My second son Caleb was born during this period, and my wife and I became homeowners, moving to the Hudson Valley. Len and his wife, Jen, also had a son, Adam, and they also bought their own home. Joel published two books, Gay Haiku, and Swish, and he and his partner Mike also bought a house, in Brooklyn. We were all making a transition into adulthood and responsibility, while dealing with this most sobering subject matter, but also trying to maintain the childlike joy that brought us to the theatre in the first place.

Also during this period, we traveled to Prague and Terezin. This was an extraordinarily moving experience. We spoke to survivors of Terezin, walked the town, and saw a secret room in a now private home that the inmates of Terezin had painted with Jewish iconography so that the room might serve as a makeshift synagogue. Our terrific tour guide, Petra, grew up only a few miles from Terezin, but told us she never knew a thing about the place until after the Communist regime collapsed.

We learned so many stunning pieces of information that later came to inform our show or were incorporated into it. That secret room is referenced. So are the very useful presents that young boys would give to girls they liked.

One survivor told us about standing on a street corner in Prague after the war, and wondering how to go on, having lost her entire family and all of her friends. Our heroine, Lorelei, asks herself the same question at the end of Signs of Life.

In Prague, I finally was able to locate a book of Bedrich Fritta's drawing for his son Tommy. It was published as This is Not a Fairy Tale - it's Real. To Tommy for his third Birthday in Terezin, 22 January 1944. You can't find it on Amazon, but you can order it from the Jewish Museum of Prague. The version I've got has a "fairy tale" written to go alongside the original pictures and text. This "fairy tale" is not nearly as powerful as the original book Fritta wrote for his son. The book in something closer to its original form can be ordered from Yad Vashem.

Fritta hid the original manuscript behind a wall in Terezin. It was recovered after the war. There are many such stories about artwork in Terezin. In some cases, the art was recovered decades later. The secreting of drawings and their post-war recovery also plays a crucial role in our musical.

Fritta died in Auschwitz. His wife died in Terezin. Tommy, only four years old, spent months in the Little Fortress, the horrible prison the Nazis kept outside Terezin. Miraculously, he survived.

I remember crying my eyes out in a motel room outside Terezin as I poured through the pages of this book. Tommy Fritta, as drawn by his father, looks so much like my young son Alexander in some of the pictures. Alexander was himself not quite two at the time I sat in that motel room looking at those pictures. The thought of what Tommy had to endure, and the terror I felt knowing that in another place, in another time, my own Alexander could have been subjected to the same, was too much to bear. It's too much to bear even now. I'm not ashamed to admit that as I write these words, I can barely make out my computer screen through my tears.

Now, with Jeremy Dobrish directing, Signs of Life is set for an off-Broadway run in February and March, 2010.

It's been a long emotional journey. And it's been worth it, every step along the way.

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Why Are There No Great Hanukkah Songs?

2009-12-12T13:10:00.006-05:00

Some of the best Christmas songs were written by Jews ("White Christmas," "The Christmas Song," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays," "Rudolph The Red-Nose Reindeer," "Silver Bells," "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!").

So, why are there no great Hanukkah songs?

There's a few funny ones (Adam Sandler's "The Chanukah Song"), and a few lame ones ("The Dreidel Song"), but nothing like the list above of great American popular songs. One could suppose that during the era those songs were written, a Hanukkah song might not have been viewed as a highly commercial prospect.

So, maybe it's time to correct that.

My challenge to composers Jewish and gentile (only fair): write a great Hanukkah song in the tradition of the great holidays songs above. Nothing "ironic" or glib. Remember, you've got great material to work with: war, liberation, religious freedom, the victory of the underdog, miracles, family, and, especially, presents.

The Past Really is a Foreign Country.

2009-12-07T11:06:00.012-05:00

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." L.P Hartley, The Go-Between.

So, it turns out the past really is a foreign country.

I wasn't at all surprised that I'd have a lot of research to do in writing the libretto for SIGNS OF LIFE: A Tale of Terezin, which takes place in Czechoslovakia during World War Two. But it's amazing how many little things come up that require tracking down.

Here's a few:

When did the terms "Molotov Cocktail," "canoodle," and "throttle" come into being? (1940, 1859, and sometime in the 15th century, it turns out.)

And guess what? Writing about the recent past can be just as tricky.

While I don't consider myself a "political" writer, political issues and current events intrude into my plays a lot, since it's only natural that such events would be on the minds of characters living through them. I've discovered that with some of my "contemporary" plays, this requires either constant updating, which is a huge pain, or a certain vagueness, which is . . . well, vague. Perhaps as a result of this frustration, I was recently inspired to try to address the recent past in my plays. This allows me to delve into contemporary life and issues, but in a specific historical context that doesn't require constant updating.

Sounds easy, right? Not so much, it turns out.

When not working on SIGNS OF LIFE, I've been working a cycle of (I think) five plays, that take place from the election of 2000 through the election of 2008. One would think I'd remember details about this period, during which I was an adult who paid pretty close attention to the world around me.

But it's amazing how quickly details escape the memory. For example, I remember using a cell phone in the year 2000. But did cellphones have built-in speaker phones at that time? I don't think mine did, and I'm having a hard time finding out if any did. Even Wikipedia didn't help.

Another example: a character of mine made a disparaging remark about Facebook in a play that takes place in 2003. Yeah, you guessed it: there was no Facebook in 2003. So, now the character makes no such remark.

When Shaw wrote Arms and the Man in 1894, did he have this kind of trouble writing about events that took place less than a decade earlier? Or is the fast pace of technological change in the internet age the cause of my vexation?

Now, one might ask: do any of these details really matter? Is Julius Caesar any less of a play because one of the characters mentions a clock tower, something that hadn't been invented during the age of Caesar?

The answer is, of course not. But critics give Shakespeare a pass. They claim his anachronisms are intentional! The rest of us aren't so lucky. I once had a critic complain that the American flags featured in my depression-era musical ELIOT NESS IN CLEVELAND contained fifty stars, at a time when our nation's flag boasted only forty-eight. (I have always been amazed at this critic's ability to count so fast. The flags were only on stage for a moment. But critics do have amazing superpowers.)

So, we do our best as we navigate the foreign country we call the past.

See SIGNS OF LIFE: A Tale of Terezin off-Broadway, February 16-March 21, produced by Amas Musical Theatre!

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Signs of Life: A Tale of Terezin Part Two: Origins

2009-12-03T10:02:00.022-05:00

In 1998, I was one of three playwrights (along with Alice Tuan and Carlos Murillo) commissioned to write one-person plays for the En Garde Arts production A SECRET HISTORY OF THE LOWER EAST SIDE, performed on the rooftop of Seaward Park High School. En Garde Arts, for those of you who weren't around in NYC in the 1990s, was one of the most important, and exciting, theatre companies in the city at that time. They were famous for creating "site-specific" theatre works, in warehouses, street corners, abandoned theatres, and pretty much anywhere else that could accommodate (not always comfortably) actors and an audience. I loved working with them. Writing a play to be performed outside of an actual theatre put me in touch in an exciting and eye-opening way with the essence of the theatrical experience: actor, audience, space, and language. Plus, they were great people to work with.

In 1997, En Garde Arts had produced a show, Sweet Theresienstadt, in Prague. Theresienstadt was the Czech town designated as "Hitler's City for the Jews." Thesresienstadt, or Terezin as it is known to the Czech people, became a repository for "Jewish Prominenten:" Europe's most prominent Jewish intellectuals, war heroes, artists, musicians, actors, composers and well-to-do. The Nazis permitted the Jews of Terezin to create visual art, operas, cabarets, and symphonies. They showed off the ghetto to the Red Cross, and made a propaganda film (The Führer Gives the Jews a City), all designed to fool the world into thinking that Hitler's intentions for European Jewry were benign. In reality, the camp was overcrowded and disease-ridden. The inmates were undernourished, and the transports east to the Auschwitz death camp were frequent. More than 140,000 Jews passed through Terezin. More than 100,000 perished, including over 10,000 children.

For various legal reasons, En Garde Arts was unable to bring Sweet Theresienstadt to the US. Anne Hamburger, founder and Executive Producer of En Garde Arts, remained intrigued by the subject matter, however. She approached me about writing the libretto to a brand-new musical theatre piece on the same subject. Since I hadn't seen Sweet Theresienstadt (which hadn't been translated into English), I felt I could approach the subject from a fresh and original perspective.

Aside from the obvious dramatic potential, and the challenge of helping to bring to theatre-goers this lesser-known episode in the history of the Shoah, the subject intrigued me for another reason. Some of my own family had been sent to Terezin, including my great-great uncle, Joseph De Leeuw, along with his wife and his daughter, Lucy. Of the three, only Lucy survived the war.

Anne and I had several meetings with a composer/lyricist team, and the project looked good to go.

And then En Garde Arts shut down. As it turned out, SECRET HISTORY was to be the final En Garde Arts production. Anne assured me this wasn't my fault; the decision to shut down the company had nothing to do with SECRET HISTORY, which met box office expectations. I was relieved to know I had not done to En Garde Arts what Michael Cimino had done to United Artists.

Anne Hamburger went on to become the Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse, where she helped bring the original productions of both Thoroughly Modern Millie and Spring Awakening to the the stage. She followed this up with an eight-year stint as Executive Vice President of Walt Disney Creative Entertainment, and recently founded her own production company, Big Heart Theatrical.

I went on to re-write the libretto to my musical, ELIOT NESS IN CLEVELAND, previously produced at the Directors Company in NYC and at the Denver Center Theatre Company, and subsequently produced at the Cleveland Playhouse, under the direction of David Esbjornson. I also wrote the libretto for FLIGHT OF THE LAWNCHAIR MAN, which was then directed by Harold Prince at both the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia and the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, and then later directed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett at Goodspeed Musicals and 37 Arts in NYC.

Most importantly, during Michael J. Fox's farewell episode of Spin City, my wife, Michele, emerged from the bathroom waving an EPT stick and informed me that she was pregnant with our first child.

But the subject of Terezin wasn't finished with me, just yet.

As it turned out, Virginia Criste, a lawyer from California, had also been interested in producing a musical theatre piece about Terezin. Her own grandparents were sent to a death camp on one of the final transports from Terezin, and she had been traveling to Prague and Terezin even before the collapse of the Communist regime to research the subject. Virginia and Anne Hamburger had discussed co-producing the American premiere of Sweet Theresienstadt. When that production never happened, they too went their separate ways. But when Virginia decided to commission and produce a musical theatre piece set in Terezin on her own, she asked Anne to recommend a writer.

Anne, ever generous to emerging talent -- and also a woman of considerable taste and fine artistic judgment (he said humbly) -- recommended me.

Stay tuned for: "SIGNS OF LIFE: A Tale of Terezin Part Three: Origins, Chapter Two."

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SIGNS OF LIFE: A Tale of Terezin, Part One: The Balancing Act

2009-11-30T11:25:00.013-05:00

Auditions for my new musical (lyrics by Len Schiff, music by Joel Derfner, directed by Jeremy Dobrish) SIGNS OF LIFE: A Tale of Terezin begin this week. I may not be able to attend auditions, due to my parenting duties. Fortunately, I have reliable collaborators whom I trust (see above). This is essential. I live sixty miles north of New York City, and it's very hard to drop the kids off at school, schlep into the city, and make it back in time to pick them up by 3:10pm. And playwriting is not one of those professions that produces a lot of extra cash lying around for nannies. My Mom has been good enough to come down from time to time to help out, and my wife, Michele, works from home when she can if I've got something I need to be in the city for.

A couple of years ago, I had a production of my musical FLIGHT OF THE LAWNCHAIR MAN at Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut. It took me about two hours to drive there. For the duration of rehearsals, I took care of the kids during the week, and Michele took care of them on the weekend. I drove to Goodspeed early every Saturday, arriving by 10am for rehearsals. I stayed in CT overnight, attended rehearsals on Sunday, drove back to the Hudson Valley every Sunday night, and taking care of the kids again starting Monday. I dealt with re-writes and other productions issues via e-mail during the week. Once the show opened, my family joined me in CT on the weekends. It worked out pretty well.

The thing is, even if I could afford a nanny, I wouldn't want one. The time I've spent with my kids has been the best time of my life. Still, I wouldn't mind having a nanny on call, whom I could engage for specific dates. Like the auditions this week.

The next few months will be a tricky balancing act. My Mom is generously coming down from MA to help out for important rehearsals and previews. But there's still a few dates I haven't got covered yet.

But the thing of it is, as frustrating as the balancing act and the diminutive financial reward can be, I've got nothing to complain about. I get to do two of my favorite things in the world: write plays and be a dad. Which is a very excellent thing.

Because, really, I'm not that good at doing much else.

Click here for more info the upcoming production of SIGNS OF LIFE.

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