Readers Repertory fully stages 'Address Unknown'

By Kaplan Tuttlebaum

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At a time when most Americans had yet to grasp the significance of the rise of fascism in Germany, elsewhere in Europe and in the Far East, a first-time novelist in Portland wrote and published a brief and disturbing story that quickly gained wide public attention and has since become a classic of literary and political prescience.

In 1938, Katherine Kressman Taylor anticipated fascism and its bloody results in Europe, and penned "Address Unknown."

Adapted for the stage by Frank Dunlop, this is the story of Max Eisenstein and Martin Shulze, a German Jew and a German gentile, respectively, separated by an ocean, divided by world politics, and devastated by moral choices.

In its West Coast premiere, the fully staged version of this deeply moving story will be presented by Readers Theater Repertory April 20-29 at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts.

A gala benefit premier opening will take place on April 19 with proceeds going to the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center, which oversees the Oregon Holocaust Memorial in Washington Park (see sidebar).

This presentation is RTR's first fully-staged production. RTR is a project of the Mount Hood Repertory Company.

OHRC past president Miriam Greenstein, a Holocaust survivor, said OHRC's mission is "To remember, to record, to teach," which, she added, is why the organization decided to support the production of "Address Unknown."

"The story of the Holocaust must be told again and again," she says, "and applied to current events. This play, about such an intimate friendship and what hatred does to it, is a powerful way to tell it."

"Address Unknown" is as timely now as it was in 1938. "Even as we prepared to stage this, new conflict broke out in the Middle East," said director McDonald-Lewis, "and here in the States, a noted Hollywood actor and director is found out for his shockingly anti-Semitic statements. Attacks on Jewish centers and synagogues make this play all the more pertinent."

All of this supports what Dunlop said when adapting the novel for the stage: "This play is not just about a Jew and German, it is about what is happening now. I didn't want to do just a memorial to the Holocaust, although I have a good friend who survived Auschwitz. This book and now this play show what people are capable of now."

McDonald-Lewis adds, "There are no easy answers to why fascism rose, and to today's conflicts either. 'Address Unknown' doesn't give us villains and heroes, but challenges us, and demands that we decide how we shall live."

Tobias Anderson plays Martin Shulze. Michael Mendelson plays Max Eisenstein.

Anderson, who is the artistic director at Mount Hood Repertory Company, most recently appeared with William Hurt in the Artists Repertory Theatre production of "Uncle Vanya." He has a long and distinguished history in major regional theater.

Michael Mendelson most recently been seen in ART's Portland premiere of Richard Kramer's "Theatre District," ART's "Mr. Marmalade" and Profile Theatre's "Heidi Chronicles." Like Anderson, he has worked widely in top regional theater venues and is a two time Drammy winner, once for Max in "Bent" and for Sterling in "Jeffery."

Audience talkbacks will take place at all performances. They will feature Holocaust survivors and scholars, the actors and the director.

See sidebar for ticket pricing and ordering information.

Performances are scheduled on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m., on Thursdays at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and on Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Matinee tickets reportedly are selling quickly for local school groups