Displaying items by tag: Michelle Koholos Brooks

It’s no secret Hitler feared he would be killed, by political assassins, rivals or enemy troops. He spent much of the war seeking security underground at The Wolf’s Lair, his heavily fortified command center 400 miles east of Berlin, while directing action on the Eastern front.

One of his fears was poisoning. So Hitler’s S.S. officers arranged for a cadre of fifteen 20-something women, three of them bussed in daily to the Wolf’s Lair, tasked with eating three meals from the same batches prepared for Hitler.

Then they waited an hour to see if they sickened – this process repeated thrice daily for years to verify the Fuhrer’s bland vegetarian meals (rice, cauliflower, etc.) were safe. 

This little-known story came to light in 2013 when one of the girls, Margaret Woelk, told her tale to German television. Playwright Michelle Brooks recreates Woelk's experience in  Hitler’s Tasters, playing through July 14th at the North Shore Center in Skokie. Directed by Sarah Norris, it must return to New York and thence to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – where it has been designated among "10 to watch" of some 4,000 entries. So take advantage of this opportunity to see it.

In Hitler’s Tasters, we witness 90 minutes of babbling girl talk about lipstick colors, hair, celebrities, and makeup, punctuated by an almost ceremonial delivery of the meals. The girls have been taught to look down as they receive their trays, then eat everything on their plates.

Occasionally one of the three girls is replaced by another – without explanation, but giving rise to speculation by the other two on whether the gone girl was too friendly to Jews, or had a relative who failed in service to the Reich. From scene to scene they change skirts, blouses and frumpy shoes, cable knit sweaters, one-piece uniform dresses - which helps convey the passage of time.

The girls fill the empty hours by endlessly snapping photos, trading grooming advice, and occasionally bullying whoever is most vulnerable. Liesel (Hallie Griffin), Hilda (MaryKatherin Kopp), and Anna (Hanna Mae Sturges) are insecure, with only vague notions about the goals of the Third Reich (“Is it the Motherland or the Fatherland?” one asks). Taster replacement Margot (Hanna Mae Sturges) arrives when Anna disappears, and she is more of a questionner: "Where is the meat?" she asks when her first meal arrives.

Hilda seems most aligned with the Reich's agenda, telling the others, "Hitler is making everything better." When they look at her in disbelief, she corrects herself: "He will make everything great again when he can finish his plans." The audience reacted to this and numerous other pointed references to politics past and present. While Hilda is only too ready ready to lord it over the others since her father is a high-ranking German officer, eventually even she loses face when it turns out he may be a deserter.  

Unlike the idealized young women profiled in Nazi propaganda whose mission was to whelp broods of Aryan men, Hitler’s tasters are simply frivolous young ladies with not much on their minds. Still the repetitiveness weighs on them, as does the arrival of the meals, triggering repeated contemplation of their own mortality.

If familiarity breeds contempt, these too-close relationships devolve into moments of deep enmity and cruel behavior. Each may potentially inform on her peers, which could mean time in a concentration camp, or even execution. We get what Hannah Arendt called "the banality of evil," with an especial emphasis on the banal - like a bad reality TV show set in Hitler's bunker.  

Brooks has done something unique in Hitler’s Tasters - adding anachronisms like Smart Phones and contemporary pop music and dance (with choreography by Ashlee Wasmund) to drive home the point that these girls where not much different than the average girl (or young guy) on the street today. They haven’t got it figured out yet, and for these three, even when they do, they will be destined to aim at motherhood uber alles.

Dancing to Madonna and sharing photos may seem jarring, but the playwright says, “I wanted to reach another generation. Young people don’t know about the War.” Indeed, since the days of my youth, we have given schools so many more wars to teach about, that the Third Reich and World War II merits just a day, and students get only glancing familiarity with its impact and implications for contemporary life.

Brooks said in an after-show discussion that she had determined “to make this the most completely researched play,” and amassed a wealth of material. “Then I wrote it in 48 hours, without opening a book.” That gave the play its energy and vision, and subsequent research added details that are subtly and skillfully woven in.

The real Hitler’s taster Margaret Woelk revealed she was raped by an S.S. officer in this period, and eventually escaped on a train with Goebbels, while the rest of the young women at The Wolf’s Lair met violent ends at the hands of the advancing Soviet army.

Hitler’s Tasters is a strong work, and Brooks and the creative team even adapt the music to different venues in which it plays – in an effort to engage audiences. With the all-women cast and creative team, Brooks says the music is also drawn from women performers – Ow Ow Ow by Spud Cannon; The Navigator by Hurray for the Riff Raff and Child of the Sun by Amyra among them. Perhaps this show could be tightened by 5 or 10 minutes – there are moments when the pace lags - but it's a minor concern. 

See Hitler's Tasters through July 14 at the North Shore Center Show times are Tue, July 09 at 7:30pm; Wed, July 10 at 7:30pm; Thu, July 11 at 7:30pm
Fri, July 12 at 8pm; Sat, July 13 at 2pm; Sat, July 13 at 8pm; and Sun, July 14 at 2pm.