"DelikateSSen,"A Groundbreaking New Film and Play
A riveting drama unlike anything you have ever seen before!
New York Stage Production and Film Adaptation
Currently in Development through
producer Alixx Schottland
Over the Rainbow Entertainment
Matt Penn - Director
Richard Atkins - Playwright & Screenwriter
Recent "BLACKLIST" evaluations of the screenplay!
The script takes an interesting and personal examination of the emotional and physical trauma holocaust survivors were forced to endure. The script ends up becoming a powerful drama about suspicion, the past, and prejudice. David's backstory is tragic and it's easy to empathize with him. It was a strong choice to have the audience learn secrets about David's past at the same time as his family (David having to "perform" on the officer in order to save his brother is particularly harrowing). It was also a smart choice to have Rachel be almost completely ignorant of her father's bleak past, and it's interesting that their lack of communication in some way at least seems to lead to the bombing of Klaus's restaurant. The script really gets going once David contacts Yaakov and gets him to begin investigating Klaus and Franz. It's interesting to see how the bombing and the inescapable past affect all of the characters down the line. The scene in which Franz learns all the things that David has been accusing him of and takes back his money is one of the strongest and most heartbreaking in the script.
Prospects:
Similar to something like MUNICH, DELIKATESSEN is a heartfelt revenge story about ghosts of the past, the holocaust, and justice. Drama fans might be interested in the script's strong family drama whereas history and thriller fans might be interested in the intense concentration camp sequences and thriller-esque main plot. It may be somewhat pricey to accurately recreate a concentration camp and other elements in the past, however DELIKATESSEN feels fairly different from other holocaust projects, which may help quite a bit in getting the script noticed for it is, at its core, an interesting idea and promises a powerful story. It also serves as a good sample of the writer's ability to craft strong dramas.
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DELIKATESSEN is an original and intriguing period script set between 1944 and 1972. The story is fast-paced and written with clarity. It flows really smoothly and the beginning is especially powerful and hooks the reader. The world of the movie is really vivid, and described with great attention to detail (and effective use of planting and payoff). The premise is strong and the plot is quite inventive and sets a good mystery. Is Franz really a Nazi and the father of Klaus, or is David just too paranoid and traumatized? We want the truth to be revealed, and this creates a good tension. The fact that there are secrets and old grudges also within the family makes the script more compelling and captivating. The story explores the issues of Holocaust and the trauma derived from it, and the themes of truth, family and rebirth/second chances from a fascinating angle. It is also a reflection on life and its tragic irony, as we learn about the deaths/suicides of some of the characters, and as we discover that Franz was indeed a Nazi, something that David won't ever know because he passed away before the mystery was solved. The dramatic but quiet tone fits the story well, as we don't immediately realize that evil is just around the corner.
Prospects:
This is a type of film that has the potential to turn into a commercial and critical success. David and Yossi could turn into solid vehicles for two actors in their 50s (and in their mid-20s, for the part set at Auschwitz). Good references could be APT PUPIL and THE ODESSA FILE.
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The dialogue is a strong aspect of DELIKATESSEN. First, the characters' voices sound pretty natural throughout the piece. Second, their exchanges always move back-and-forth quickly, which is a crucial (and sometimes overlooked) detail. Those fast-paced conversations - like we see between David and Rachel on page 96, for example - help ensure that the script has the same snappiness and energy on the page that audiences will see on screen. There are certainly some affecting character elements in this story too. David noting, "The Nazi machine taught me to embrace futility," is memorably bleak, though it's understandable given how horrifying his (and many others') experience was. Speaking of, Keppler's threat on pages 41 and 42 is infuriating, and the script does a nice job capturing David's difficulty in revealing that blackmail to Yossi on page 86. We can really feel how hard a conversation that is for David, and that discomfort makes perfect sense. Also, it's never quite clear if Yaakov is trustworthy or just a bit paranoid himself when he claims he's being watched by "ex-Nazis, CIA, KGB," which works well. The revelation about the cigarette case on page 107 and the fact that his "disappearance remains a mystery" hint that he was right about the danger he's in.
Prospects:
There are definitely aspects of DELIKATESSEN that executives could find enticing. These lead characters are the right ages to be played by well-known actors, which is something buyers always consider. One big positive: this wouldn't be an exorbitantly expensive film to produce, by any means, even with the period setting(s). Of course, a more reasonable prospective budget means that a wider range of potential financiers could get involved.
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DELIKATESSEN is a powerful exploration of the ripple effects of trauma across generations. The writer infuses the pages with a sense of dread and paranoia every step of the way — and does a good job of keeping it genuinely unclear whether or not the things we’re experiencing are in David’s head or are real. The repeated car following Yossi is immensely unsettling, as is the gold cigarette case — and the emphasis on little details that feel imbued with meaning helps the story feel like it’s swimming in the traumatized psychology of these brothers. While the string of events — Manny’s hate crime, the car following Yossi, and the German deli across the street — all feel disparate at first, the casual way that they are strung together in the story begins to feel incredibly nefarious as time goes on. The dynamic between Yossi and David is well built — David’s view of himself as a martyr because of what he did for Yossi in Auschwitz, and Yossi’s resentment of this very fact bleeds into their later scenes together. The reveal that David was right about Klaus Reinhardt being Hans Richter is heartbreaking, particularly because he never gets closure that he was right.
Prospects:
DELIKATESSEN is a slow-burn, bubbling psychological thriller about the lasting life of trauma through generations, and what trauma can do to a community. Its draw is in its understated exploration of the resulting paranoia and tension that lives in one’s body after such horrific abuse. With attention to the tone of the story, and with the attachment of top-tier talent, this film has the potential to be a critical success.
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LATEST EXCELLENT NOTICE
FROM LIMITED RUN
NOVEMBER, 2019.
Critic Dean Yannias from Talkin' Broadway
Richard Atkins' script flows smoothly and quickly,
with natural-sounding dialogue, nothing phony.
Atkins plays the lead role of David,
and he is as good an actor as he is a playwright,
and that means very good.
I enjoyed this play both times that I have seen it;
the enjoyment that comes from seeing a
well-crafted, well-plotted, well-acted
piece of theater.
NOVEMBER PRODUCTION AT THE VSA NORTH FOURTH ART CENTER
L to R: Richard Atkins, Ray Orley, Annelise Wall, Salome Martinez Lutz and Scott Claunch.
Playwright Richard Atkins has chosen to focus on the struggles of one Jewish family, thirty long years after the war has ended. The place, New York City, circa 1972. Yet the past continues to haunt one man's soul so profoundly, he is faced with immeasurable choices, no man should have to make...
LINK TO ARTICLE
A TRIUMPHANT WORLD PREMIERE
WITH SOLD OUT HOUSES, RAVE REVIEWS AND STANDING OVATIONS!
Jain Lemos of ABQ to do writes:
The confident cast of “DeliKateSSen” serves a two-course feast of emotional soup at the Adobe Theater in this original play by Richard Atkins. Opening night marked a triumph for the East Mountain writer and actor who unleashes a flawless performance as a New York deli owner and Holocaust survivor.
Dean Yannias of Talkin' Broadway writes:
I have to hand it to the Adobe Theater. About once a year, they present the World Premiere of a play by a local author. I think they have a winner this year!
The play is called DelikateSSen.
The play is quite well plotted, and it doesn't go where I thought it was going to go, so I don't want to reveal much more. It all fit together tightly, with an extra little kick at the very end!
Dianne R. Layden of the Jewish E Link writes:
"DeliKateSSen" by Richard Atkins is a powerful play about the long-term influences of the Holocaust that intertwines themes of history, morality and family. Consummate performances by the actors, directed by Cheryl Atkins, portray 10 characters, all pivotal.
FIRST RAVE REVIEW!
THEATRE REVIEW, DELIKATESSEN
April 4, 2015
By Jain Lemos
The confident cast of “DeliKateSSen” serves a two-course feast of emotional soup at the Adobe Theater in this original play by Richard Atkins. Opening night marked a triumph for the East Mountain writer and actor who ideated the plot in 2011 followed by its first public staged reading at Albuquerque’s Vortex in September 2013. Now a full production on the Adobe’s cozy platform, Atkins unleashes a flawless performance as a New York deli owner and Holocaust survivor.
The story takes place in 1972 at Shapiro’s in Midtown where brothers David (Richard Atkins) and Yossi (Scott Claunch) run a kosher eatery. Stressing about the lack of business, David’s pessimism and sour demeanor is contrasted by Yossi’s compassion and brightness for better days to come. But no amount of hopefulness can fix what’s ahead for these troubled siblings, especially in view of what they’ve endured in the past.
Two lonely elderly patrons, Maria Schneider (Sharon Sprague) an unmarried German Jew and Franz Becker (Ray Orley) an Austrian accountant, represent the promise of détente as they encourage David to drop his Aryan loathing and suspicions. Sprague is whimsically sharp and comfortable opposite Orley’s skillful depiction of Becker as a mysterious yet mild mannered gent. David is not amused by the pair’s forgive-and-forget attitude. When Rabbi Weiss (Joel Miller) arrives to reluctantly tell the Shapiro’s about Reinhardt’s, a German deli that’s opening across the street, David’s disdain turns into an obsessive and defensible vendetta.
Atkins shows David’s revulsion of all things German with stellar fervor. In a penetrating monologue detailing the unimaginable level of inhumanity the brothers suffer in a concentration camp, Atkins’ range dives so deep it leaves you wondering what personal well he’s pulling from. Claunch approaches Yossi with equal acumen as he expertly moves along the complex arc of his character’s path. The actor inspires us to root for Yossi and we are eager for his virtue to prevail.
David’s wife Sarah (Georgia Athearn) attempts to break the spell of bitterness swamping her husband. Athearn, who over-projects her lines at times, presents the matriarch as uninterested in rehashing old atrocities. Their teenaged daughter Rachel (Marteena Bentley) develops her theology from David’s: Germans are unworthy of grace. Bentley evolves Rachel in a manner that brings a powerful and unanticipated metamorphosis.
Justin Raper as nemesis Klaus Reinhardt steals scenes, elevating the play to incredible heights. At one point, he enters a zone of autohypnotic intensity, displaying an acting ability beyond what is typically seen in community theater. Nazi hunter and TV personality Yaakov Zeiman (Eliot Stenzel) enters the fray as David’s allied hatemonger. If Reinhardt is a Nazi, Zeiman is sure to find proof. Stenzel dons a heavy aura for the part. With impeccable gestures and expressions he delivers a convincing rendering of the shadowy figure. As events unfold during ten days, the pacing stays crisp while the theme becomes persistently absorbing.
Veteran director Cheryl Atkins skillfully steers the effects of hatred through the narrative like a slow poison. She selected players guaranteed to provide authentic accents and sentiments. All actors developed complete backstories as one of her requirements. The dialogue as it stands couldn’t be better, but rest assured any improvisations would be just as good thanks to this extra preparation. Her production team transforms the black box space into a set replete with dozens of realistic touches, right down to the Shapiro’s logo created for the menus and aprons. The projected media sequences of historical quotes as scene introductions are also excellent additions and bring even more depth to this thought-provoking experience.
New Mexico play worker and Tony Award winner Mark Medoff—who collaborated with Atkins on the script—will be directing the drama this fall in South Carolina. From there, the show is likely to continue receiving accolades and recognition. Meanwhile, be sure to see “DeliKateSSen” at the Adobe which runs weekends through April 24. You can find performance dates and ticketing information here.
SECOND RAVE REVIEW!
By Dean Yannias
April 9, 2015
I have to hand it to the Adobe Theater. About once a year, they pre-sent the world premiere of a play by a local author. These are not just readings, but fully staged productions with four-week runs. You can't count on people coming to see something they've never heard of, yet the Adobe repeatedly takes the risk.
I think they have a winner this year. The play is called DelikateSSen. It was written by the prolific Albuquerque-area (by way of New York) playwright Richard Atkins, with a dramaturgical assist from Mark Medoff, who lives in southern New Mexico. Note the German spelling, and how the SS of "delikateSSen" stands out. You might have already figured out some of what this play is about.
Although created by writers who live in New Mexico, the play has nothing to do with our state and everything to do with New York City and the Second World War. It takes place in 1972 and revolves around Shapiro's Deli, which is owned by David Shapiro and his younger brother Yossi. They both survived the concentration camp at Birkenau thanks to a special arrangement that the commandant had with David. 27 years later, they find themselves in early middle age, not in their native Belarus, but running a kosher deli on 55th Street in Manhattan, not all that successfully.
Apart from the conflicts between David and Yossi and especially those within David himself (persistent PTSD, anger, etc.), the central conflict of the play develops when a German survivor of the war, Klaus Reinhardt, opens a German deli and biergarten directly across the street from them. What are his motives? Can Shapiro's survive? Can David dig up some Nazi dirt on Klaus? Is the war going to be played out again on 55th Street?
The play is quite well plotted, and it doesn't go where I thought it was going to go, so I don't want to reveal much more. A viewer who is more astute than I am might be able to pick up on some early hints as to what will happen in the second act. (One word to look up after you see the play: ammonpulver.) It all fits together tightly, with an extra little kick at the very end.
Atkins writes natural-sounding dialogue, and nothing seems phony or forced and one technique that Atkins uses works really well. At the play's beginning and end and between scenes, we see projections on the wall. Some are simply time/date/location, but most are quotes, audio and visual, from people famous and not so famous. There are the usual Nazis (Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Eichmann) and the expected Jews (Anne Frank, Primo Levi), but also Churchill and some survivors of the camps. The aphorism most relevant to the play, though, comes from Friedrich Nietzsche: "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." The projections are technically challenging and flawlessly executed. I was told that the credit for them should go to Norm Fletcher, who also did the sound design.
The set (designed by Ju Meng Tan and scenic artist Karin Pitman; built by Rick Hassi, Dale Diamond, Cy Hoffman and Gerald Sandoval; and painted by Linda Leach, Jeremy Jarimillo and Ed Boucher) is terrific. Excellent lighting and special effects are by Stan Olivarez, and the wonderful '70s costumes (the nightmare of bell-bottoms) are by Judi Beuhler and Nancy Planka. However, whoever provided the hippie wig for the character Adam Ginsberg should be sued by the actor forced to wear it (David Bentley). Everything is stage-managed by Linda Leach.
The director is Cheryl Atkins, the wife of Richard, and she has assembled a good cast and excellent crew. She keeps things moving, helped by the projections that occupy our attention during scene changes. Richard Atkins plays David Shapiro, and is rarely off stage. But lest you think this is just a vanity project or nepotism, he is a really good actor.
Most of the rest of the cast is fine, too. Some of the actors have wobbly German and Yiddish accents, but apart from that, are convincing in their roles. I was most impressed by Georgia Athearn, Sharon Sprague, Marteena Bentley, Justin Raper, and Scott Claunch, along with Atkins. I have seen Ray Orley and Eliot Stenzel enough times on stage to expect good work from them always, and they don't disappoint. The German Shepherd, Sarge, is remarkably well-trained.
DelikateSSen is not going to be an easy play for some audience members to watch, even though we are now 70 years post-Holocaust. But that's the whole point: it cannot be forgotten. We have to be reminded every so often of the monstrous things that humans do to each other, so that we do not become monsters ourselves.
Whether this play will go on to further acclaim, I won't try to predict. Success in the arts has as much to do with luck as with merit. There will be another production of DelikateSSen directed by Mark Medoff this fall in South Carolina, but I would say, see the original right here in Albuquerque.
DelikateSSen, a new play by Richard Atkins, is being given its world premiere at the Adobe Theater, 9813 Fourth Street NW (3 blocks north of Alameda) in Albuquerque. Through April 26, 2015. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 2:00. Info at www.adobetheater.org or 505-898-9222.
THIRD RAVE REVIEW!
ADOBE THEATER'S "DELIKATESSEN
COMPELLING IN EVERY RESPECT!
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
By Dianne R. Layden
“DeliKateSSen,” by Richard Atkins, is a powerful play about the long-term influences of the Holocaust that intertwines themes of history, morality, and family. Consummate performances by the actors, directed by Cheryl Atkins, portray 10 characters, all pivotal. I will be spare with details so as not to spoil the unexpected dramatic moments.
The play is set in a Manhattan deli soon after the 1972 Munich Olympics, where the eleven members of the Israeli team were murdered by the Palestinian group Black September.
From my first view of the stage, I was engrossed in the story. Shapiro’s Deli (“Since 1955”) has a typical décor with a counter and red leather stools, glass case with desserts, linoleum floor with black and white diamonds, blackboard with specials, wall thermometer with a Coke insignia, and list of famous New York City sites, such as Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Coney Island. For me, the set was a character.
To provide an historical context, projections of Holocaust pictures appear on one wall with quotations by historical figures, including Adolf Hitler, Elie Wiesel, Heinrich Himmler, Anne Frank, Adolph Eichmann, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Joseph Goebbels, and Winston Churchill. The effect is to remind the audience throughout the play of the horrors of genocide.
Both drama and tragedy, “DeliKateSSen” tells of two brothers, David Shapiro (Richard Atkins) and Yossi Shapiro (Scott Claunch), Holocaust concentration camp survivors imprisoned at Birkenau during World War II. Inconsolable, David is traumatized and angry, while Yossi, who limps because he was wounded at the camp, is able to forgive and focus on the present.
As they cope with the deli’s financial troubles, a bigger and better German deli and beer garden opens across the street. These circumstances result in tragic consequences. “DeliKateSSen” is a plea to end hate and its perpetual cycle of violence.
Other characters are David’s wife (Georgia Athearn), their daughter (Marteena Bentley), her boyfriend (David Bentley), two customers (Sharon Sprague, Ray Orley), the German deli owner (Justin Raper), a Nazi hunter (Eliot Stenzel), and a rabbi (Joel Miller).
NMSU professor Mark Medoff, author of the Tony Award-winning play “Children of a Lesser God,” served as dramaturge (play advisor), part of an ongoing collaboration with Richard since 2005. Mark directed his play “The Men of Mah Jongg,” which has been staged in several cities.
Cheryl and Richard Atkins are married, have decades of theater experience, and are officers of the East Mountain Centre for Theatre in Sandia Park. Richard has written 20 plays and 9 murder mysteries, some of which are musicals, while Cheryl has directed award-winning Broadway plays. “DeliKateSSen” took 4 years to complete, with readings in Chicago and Albuquerque.
“DeliKateSSen” will be performed through Sunday, April 26, at the Adobe Theater, 9813 Fourth St. NW, 2 blocks north of Alameda, 898-9222, adobetheater.org.
Albuquerque Journal Article
March 29, 2015m the toolbar.
Richard Atkins plays David Shapiro and Justin Raper plays Klaus Reinhardt
Television Interview on KASA!
Article in the Alibi
WORLD PREMIERE
AT THE
ADOBE THEATRE!
WORLD PREMIERE
AT THE
ADOBE THEATRE!
"DelikateSSen" is a firestorm from beginning to end, both riveting in its intensity and compelling with every twist and turn. It's a mystery that leads from one confrontation to the next culminating in a climax never before seen on stage and the denouement is so powerful, readers have been left sitting deep in thought, long after the last word has been read as the play delivers an enormous impact!
Jamie Farr of M*A*S*H fame states:
Jamie Farr of M*A*S*H fame states:
"Atkins play is compelling, powerful. I just could not stop reading it. It can remain a secret, but I cannot help but wonder if this was an actual story of people Atkins interviewed or knew. The projections are wonderful added touches. Atkins is a wonderful talent and should be proud of this piece of work. Bravo."
"DelikateSSen" was one of five finalists out of 400+ scripts up for the Christopher Brian Wolk Award at
New York City's Abingdon Theatre.
The finalists for the 2014 award were:
Richard Atkins for DelikateSSen
Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich for Romeo Chang
Martyna Majok for Petty Harbour
Jenny Seidelman for Henry Moore Is Melting
Howard Waxman for 18 Villa Seurat
Copyright Certification * December 19, 2013
Go to our testimonial page!
Cast and Wonderful Tech Crew!
A wonderful Workshop Production
was done at Centre Stage,
directed by the phenomenal
Ellen Jones,
with an excellent, non-Equity cast.
The result?
REVIEW: Centre Stage Serves High Drama in Compelling ‘DeliKateSSen’
“DeliKateSSen” is a riveting portrait of a family thrust into turmoil. Bolstered by a first-rate cast, this engrossing story with one twist after another excoriates a festering wound of hate and trauma with genuine pathos in an emotional, visceral flood of all of your senses.
BY SANDY STAGGS DRAMA CRITIC
Shapiro’s Delikatessen is practically a fixture in this insular Midtown neighborhood in New York City, but business is lackluster right now. And the prospect of a flashy new Deli and Beer Garden opening across the street is causing the established Jewish owners (and Holocaust survivors) considerable distress, particularly when they find out their rival restauranteurs are German.
The year is 1972 in “DeliKateSSen,” the engrossing whirlwind drama by Richard Atkins that is receiving its regional premiere at Centre Stage in Greenville through May 21.
And in an unorthodox move, Atkins ‑ the 2016 playwright-in-residence of the company’s New Play Festival where he developed his newest play “The Men of Mah Jongg” ‑ also stars as David, the elder Shapiro who has spent his entire life protecting his kid brother Yossi (embodied by Centre Stage veteran actor Bruce Meahl).
The Shapiros’ horrific experience at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in World War II happened nearly 30 years, and the subject has been deliberately purged from their memories. David and his wife Sarah (Tiffany Nave) have even whitewashed the demise of Sarah’s entire family when it comes to their teen-age daughter Rachel (Anna Lee Altman), sparing her the horrid truth of how 19 of her relatives were wiped out by the Nazis.
But the murder of their deli delivery man and news of a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September kidnapping and slaughtering 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics sends David into a frenzied state of pandemonium. His suppressed trauma from the death camp is triggered by the most innocuous of acts such as hearing Johann Strauss’ “Emperor Waltz” being played by a violinist on the street. He becomes highly suspect of everyone, especially the Reinhartds across the way, and contacts a celebrated Nazi hunter to investigate them.
Director Ellen Jones, in her first Centre Stage outing since “Angel Street” (aka “Gaslight”) some five years ago has staged this play superbly with focused, multi-layered performances in an engrossing cathartic production that engages all of the audience’s senses.
The glossy visual façade (see below) and time setting reinforce an element of historical truth, though “DeliKateSSen” is an entirely fictional story, and one refined by dramaturg and playwright Mark Medoff, the Tony and Olivier Award winner for “Children of a Lesser God.”
And while his accent does meander at times, the New Mexico-based Atkins is a highly-skilled and methodical actor who has lived and breathed the Shapiro family for some seven years when he began writing “DeliKateSSen.” He also assumed the part of David in the play’s world premiere in 2015 at the Adobe Theater in Albuquerque.
Atkins embarks on a bewitching, piteousness descent here from a loving family man and business owner to a devastated human being wrought with hate as his backstory is slowly unraveled to the viewer. With rich, multi-faceted pathos, Atkins’ David allows the Holocaust to define his existence and surrenders to his “eye for an eye” vendetta, oblivious to the destructive nature of his hate and the confounding influence it has on those around him.
And Meahl perhaps in his finest, most nuanced performance to date, does the consummate job of the straight guy, the dramatic foil who wants to leave the their torrid past behind. Meahl’s character is the moral epicenter of the drama, as well as the deli and dies a whole lot of cooking in this play.
Ms. Nave and Miss Altman (recent co-stars of “Blythe Spirit” at Spartanburg Little Theatre) lend loads of gravitas to their roles, particularly Altman, whose character has been sheltered from the Holocaust and undergoes a mordant metamorphosis that you won’t see coming.
As the famed Nazi Hunter Yaakov Zeiman, Peter Godfrey, who was also part of the staged reading of “The Men of Mah Jongg” last fall, delivers a resolute performance, steeped in enigmatic intrigue. Presented as a composite of Simon Wiesenthal and a Scotland Yard detective in a trench coat, Zeiman is consumed by war crime justice and has exposed over 100 Nazi criminals via his TV show “Hiding in Plain Sight,” which Atkins modeled after “America’s Most Wanted” hosted by John Walsh.
And among the splendid supporting players, redhead Rachel Jeffreys sports the finest accent in the cast as Maria Schneider, a deli regular who falls for a mysterious Austrian (Centre Stage regular Richard Beveridge) known as Franz Becker. And Ken Kraft (who just appeared as the Monsignor in “Sister Act: The Musical”) rounds out the cast as rival restaurant owner Klaus Reinhardt.
In between the scene transitions, Atkins shows brief visuals on a video screen above the stage of haunting images and obscure and profound quotes and voice overs from survivors and figures from the Holocaust, as well as a “real” news broadcast of events that occur only in the drama itself.
There is also a video epilogue with shocking expository revelations that neatly wrap up the plot. However, in my only beef with this production, it is shown simultaneously with the graceful curtain call of the cast members and competes for the viewers’ attention. Perhaps, they could come back after the video for an final bow and get the applause they deserve.
Ms. Nave is also costumer for this play and I really adored the avocado greens for Sarah, and the harvest gold and rust for Rachel.
The set was designed by Executive Artistic Director Glenda ManWaring with an impressive tile-floor painted by Jenni Baldwin. The props were designed by Jessica Eckenrod and Hair & Make-up by Victor DeLeon.
The Stage Manager for “DeliKateSSen” is Christopher Rose with Jean Bartlett as Assistant Stage Manager. The Lighting and Sound operator is Julie Florin.
FACEBOOK COMMENTS
FACEBOOK COMMENTS
PLAYWRIGHT RICHARD ATKINS APPEARING ON THE MORNING BREW WITH LARRY AHRENS, TALKING ABOUT THE PLAY.
CHICAGO READING
CHICAGO READING
A Great Turnout in Chicago
For A Highly Praised Reading
A Great Turnout in Chicago
For A Highly Praised Reading
Author Richard Atkins (left) and Actor Madrid St. Angelo
Lillian Gerstner from the Illinois Holocaust Museum
moderates the talk-back
From Left, Gary Houston, Cory Krebsbach and Judy Rice
Richard Shavzin
Madrid St. Angelo, Charlie Rasmann & Mike Hall
Genesis Theatricals Producer Elayne LeTraunik
Successful Reading!
September 28th at the Vortex Theatre in Albuquerque!
Graphic and Flyer Design by Bruce Kluger - www.brucekluger.com
PHOTOS FROM THE TALK BACK AFTER THE READING
Copy for the September 22, 2013 Article
SANDIA PARK PLAYWRIGHT SHOWS 2 VIEWS
by David Steinberg
Sandia Park playwright Richard Atkins is taking a new perspective on the Holocaust in his script “DelikateSSen” – Jewish and German.
The subject is broached when two Jewish brothers, David and Yossi Shapiro, are facing hard times running their famous Jewish delicatessen in midtown Manhattan.
The brothers fear business will get even tougher with the new competition: A German is opening up his own deli, Reinhardt’s, across the street.
The first public staged reading of the play will be Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Vortex Theatre.
“I thought I should bring the Holocaust into the picture as the brothers were made orphans by the Holocaust. They lost all 16 members of their family,” Atkins said.
“But I also wanted to show a different side – the German view. … I’m trying to give a more humanistic side to the German point of view.”
He also thought carefully about what year to put the play in. It takes place in 1972. New York’s city government is bankrupt. The Bronx is in flames.
Atkins said Mark Medoff, a well-known Las Cruces playwright, director, professor and dramaturge for the play, urged him to set the play right after the 1972 Munich Olympics at which 11 Israeli Olympic team members were massacred.
“It’s definitely unique in pitting merchants of different backgrounds and they’re bringing an incredible amount of baggage with them,” Atkins said.
“But the play isn’t as much about the Holocaust as it is about the family unit – brothers, wives, kids. How memories of the Holocaust 25, 30 years later continue to affect the family unit. That’s also the idea for the German family. Their family unit is at stake as well.”Atkins said the issues of hate, revenge and forgiveness also come into play.Among the actors reading are Joe Alberti as David Shapiro, Benjamin Liberman as his brother Yossi, Ray Orley as Karl Eisler, an old German violinist and Arthur Alpert as Rabbi Weiss.Atkins, artistic director of the East Mountain Centre for Theatre, is hoping to mount a full production in Albuquerque.“Many regional theaters are looking at it and I’m working on a screenplay,” he said.
The People of
DelikateSSen
The People of
DelikateSSen
Article by Wally Gordon on "DelikateSSen"
http://newmexicomercury.com/blog/comments/for_in_the_end_hate_could_kill_us_all
‘FOR IN THE END, HATE WOULD KILL US ALL’
By Wally Gordon
Twenty-seven years after the end of World War II, two families who had survived that conflict, one of them German Jews and the other German Nazis, fight a different kind of war on a street in Manhat-tan: the war of the delis. This is the core of a drama penned by a Sandia Park playwright and scheduled for a reading this weekend in Albuquerque.
The story could have been told as a comedy, however it is anything but; rather, it is an explosive tragedy in which old wounds bleed again onto 55th Street. That there is a beacon of hope, even potent-ial salvation, at the end, does not dim the soul-destroying conflict between two families on the same street trying to sell sandwiches, salvage their self-respect and pay back for their history.
This description, while accurate in terms of plot, is dramatically misleading, for it implies a moral equality between the two families that does not exist on the stage; this is instead a drama that, for most of its length, pits good against evil in the starkest of terms.
The author has asked me not to give away the plot with too many specifics. Suffice it to say, that this play evolves as an almost classical tragedy. Its denouement is what you would expect it to be, and its characters’ fates are written large in their history.
Such is the substance of the new play DelikateSSen written and directed by Sandia Park’s Richard Atkins, who along with his wife has been the guiding light of the East Mountain Centre for Theatre. Mark Medoff, Tony award-winning New Mexico playwright, has collab-
orated on the production with the designation of dramaturge, which Atkins defined in an email as “general editor.”
The drama will receive a staged reading Saturday, Sept. 28, at 1 p.m. at the Vortex in Albuquerque, 2004 1/2 Central Ave. (247-8600). There is no charge to attend the performance, which includes nine actors. The action is interspersed with music and video images of quotations by and about the Holocaust, although Atkins noted that for this show the quotations will be read by the actors. After the performance, Atkins will discuss the play with members of the audience.
The cast includes Joe Alberti, Benjamin Liberman, Ray Orley, Sharon Sprague, David Bentley, Randy Wagner, Cheryl Atkins, Joel Miller, Arthur Alpert, Austin Dennis and Kristi Johnson.
With music, video images, a large cast and multiple scenes, the play is more ambitious than most written by New Mexico playwrights or performed on regional stages. But Atkins commented, “Given a qualified stage and technical crew, we could pull it off in a space
like the South Broadway Cultural Center or some theatre spaces in Santa Fe. Some of the top regional theaters in the country have requested the script and are considering it. The play will also translate excellently into a motion picture, which I will be writing soon and pitching to HBO through one of their consultants.”
I see this play as an effort by Atkins to elucidate the awful cycle of genocide that we have repeatedly witnessed. The vile attempt of Germans to eliminate the existence of the Jewish people seemed to set a precedent for other efforts in the following decades: Serbs
against Bosnians, Hutus against Tutsis, Balinese against Chinese, Arabs against Africans in Darfur, Sunnis against Shias. In all such cases, two peoples who were much alike in skin color, language and lifestyle, who had for centuries intermarried so extensively they appeared to be one people, who had found a way to get along and even like each other for generations, turned on each other. In each case slaughter evolved into genocide, and it did so with the coop-eration and in fact instigation and facilitation of government.
Of course, the Nazis didn’t really start all this. Without benefit of lessons from the Nazis, the Turks did a fine job on the Armenians, the United States on the American Indians, the Spaniards and Portuguese on the natives of South America and, not to be forgotten, the effort of the north German Protestants and the south German Catholics to do each other in for more than 300 years from Martin Luther to Otto von Bismark.
Atkins’s own comment to me ran thus:
“My impetus for writing the script was something my Jewish father once said to me, ‘The only good German is a dead German.’ I thought that was wrong, so I wrote a play around it. Also, I discovered that Himmler's daughter, Gudrun Himmler does in fact run a secret
organization called Stille Hilfe which is a pro-Nazi organization which helps anyone who wore a Swastika in 1943 in any way she can. Also, the staggering number of Neo-Nazi groups in this country alone, let alone Europe, is frightening. The genocide and conflicts all over the world never seem to end. Assad and his genocide, etc. So what better topic than the grandest one to write a play about: Nazis, Germany, the Holocaust and the Aftermath. This play could be called ‘Aftermath.’”
The line that stayed with me long after reading the play was delivered by a rabbi: “For in the end, hate would kill us all.”
Last month, a friend of mine, an elderly Jewish writer, walked through the streets of a German city on the Jewish holy day of Rosh Hoshanah and to her own surprise, suddenly burst into tears. Some things are forever.
SET RENDERINGS AND FLOOR PLAN
BY JASON RUBIN - Ph.D
SET RENDERINGS AND FLOOR PLAN
BY JASON RUBIN - Ph.D
Evolution of Set Design
FINAL SET BY JU MENG TAN
FINAL SET BY JU MENG TAN
