Germany in 1943. America in 2033. This charged play follows young adults separated by time and place, united by their resistance to the government oppression they’re surrounded by. In 2033, a group of protestors in hiding begin receiving cryptic text messages. Is it possible that they’re somehow being sent from 1940s anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl and other members of the famed White Rose resistance group? And if they are receiving these messages, why?
Cast of Characters
(12W, 4M)
TEAK WILSON — Male, 18yo, African American, a student, an activist.
HANS SCHOLL — Male, 24yo, German, a student, an activist.
CHRISTOPH PROBST — Male, 23yo, German, a husband, a father,
an activist.
SOPHIE SCHOLL — Female, 21yo, German, a student, an activist.
RUTH WERNER — Female, 18yo, German, Jewish, a violinist.
IRMA — Female, 18yo, German, Jewish, a pianist.
ADEELA — Female, 19yo, of Palestinian/Jewish descent, Muslim,
moved to the U.S. when she was 3yo.
ZOE — Female, 17yo, Latina, a student.
QUINN — Female, 17yo, white, Queer, a student.
XIMENA — Female, 16yo, Guatemalan, undocumented.
JOHANNA — Female, 19yo, German, student, Sophie’s roommate.
EMILY JAY — Female, 17yo, any race, Queer, a singer/songwriter/
activist.
NADIMA — Female, 16yo, Palestinian, lives in Gaza, Adeela’s cousin.
LUCA — Male, 19yo, Guatemalan, undocumented, an activist, Ximena’s
older brother.
MAGDALENA SCHOLL — Female, 52yo, German, Sophie and
Hans’ mother.
ELSE GEBEL — Female, 20s, German, a communist, cellmate of
Sophie.
Setting
Munich, Germany: February 1943
Northern Virginia: February 2033
Author
Joe Calarco is a multi-award-winning director and playwright. He has served as Director of New Works at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, and as Resident Playwright at Expanded Arts, Inc. He was a Joseph Papp Artist in Residence at Second Stage, is one of New York Theatre Workshop’s “usual suspects,” is a Drama League directing fellow, is an Associate Artist at Barrington Stage Company, and is a member of The Dramatists Guild. Joe’s current works include I Am Rafiq (w/ collaborators Mohamad Alrefai and Kholoud Sawaf), The Circus in Winter (book writer w/ composer/lyricist Ben Clark), A Rhythmic Me (stage musical and screenplay, w/ collaborators Jared Grimes and Mark Meadows), and Spring Break (second in Joe’s series of plays for teens which follows the same 19 students through a year of their lives which starts with the currently published Winter Break). Published Works: Shakespeare’s R&J (Broadway Licensing/Dramatists Play Service - Lucille Lortel Award winner, produced in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Belgium, Israel, Brazil, Peru, China, South Korea), Walter Cronkite is Dead (Broadway Licensing/Dramatists Play Service, Best Stage Monologues of 2013), In the Absence of Spring (Broadway Licensing/Playscripts - inaugural production of Second Stage’s New Plays Uptown series, Best Stage Scenes of 2004), two collections of plays for...[FULL BIO]