WORLD PREMIERE
The Book of Joseph
January 29
March 5, 2017
Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare
by Karen Hartman
based on the life of Joseph A. Hollander and his family
directed by Barbara Gaines
Production Sponsor
★★★★ This real-life story is directed with intensity of emotion and reminds an audience to pay attention to changes in the world.
Chicago Tribune
A simple yet wondrous insight into the nature of those who not only survived against all odds, but prevailed
Chicago Sun-Times
The Play
Every family has its secrets. The Hollander family’s spanned three generations and two continents, from World War II Poland to present-day America, all locked in a suitcase in Joseph Hollander’s attic. When his son, Richard, uncovered the suitcase, he found more than just Swastika-stamped letters and legal documents—he found a family he never met, and a father’s legacy that was never mentioned. A family torn apart by war, fighting to escape and survive, an unplanned immigration and quest to stay in the US, and a tale of love lost and found, were all captured in letters uncovered a generation later, which became the book Every Day Lasts a Year. Now adapted into The Book of Joseph, the Hollander family journey offers a story for each of us.
WATCH & LISTEN
More to Explore
Critical Acclaim
"Potent and targeted, Barbara Gaines’ inaugural staging keeps it real and, even better, current. The two-act tour de truth shifts and twists our perceptions of innocence and survivor guilt..."
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An Introduction from Rich Hollander
"A stew of memory, deeds, morality, and, most of all, values. That is the best we can leave our children and grandchildren."
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A Scholar's Perspective
"The story is simple, true, and fraught with loss...Oppression and emigration have never stopped; pained propulsion has for too long formed part of the human condition."
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The Players
Creative Team
Karen Hartman Writer
Barbara Gaines Director
Scott Davis Scenic Designer
Philip Rosenberg Lighting Designer
Rachel Healy Costume Designer
Mike Tutaj Projections Designer
Mikhail Fiksel Co-Sound Designer
Miles Polaski Co-Sound Designer
Richard Jarvie Wigs & Make-Up Designer
Matt Raftery Choreographer / Associate Director
Adam Goldstein Dialect Coach
Cast
Glynis Bell Berta Hollander / Miss Blaustein
Adam Wesley Brown Craig Hollander
Amy J. Carle Mania Nachtigal / Court Interpreter / Iris Spitzman
Sean Fortunato Joseph Hollander
Mikey Gray Lusia Wimisner
Francis Guinan Richard Hollander
Patricia Lavery Dola Stark / Vita Fischman
Ron E. Rains Salo Nachtigall / Court Officer / Stanley Diana / Arnold Spitzman
Gail Shapiro Klara Wimisner / Felicja Hollander
Brenann Stacker Genka Wimisner