Class Notes: Jenny Lyn Bader “Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library”

Summary

BroadwayRadio Podcast Summary: "Class Notes: Jenny Lyn Bader “Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library”"

Release Date: January 14, 2025

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Introduction to the Episode and Play

In this episode of BroadwayRadio, host Lauren Klasschneider engages in an insightful conversation with playwright Jenny Lynn Bader about her latest work, “Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library”. The play, staged at the WP Theater, is a fantastical drama set in Berlin, 1933, amidst martial law where political activism is punishable by death. The narrative centers on a Gestapo interrogation of a graduate student suspected of illegal research, who encounters the renowned thinker Hannah Arendt. The discussion delves into Bader's motivations, creative process, and the intricate collaboration behind the play's production.

Inspiration and Creation of the Play

Bader shares her profound interest in Hannah Arendt, highlighting her significant contributions to political philosophy, such as the concepts of the banality of evil, totalitarianism, and statelessness. She explains her impetus to dramatize a lesser-known episode from Arendt's life.

Bader (00:58): "I was already interested in writing something about Hannah Arendt... I wanted to recreate it."

Her inspiration stemmed from a 1964 interview transcript where Arendt briefly describes her arrest and encounter with the Gestapo officer, an account that captivated Bader and motivated her to explore this pivotal moment through theater.

Balancing Fact and Fiction

Bader emphasizes her commitment to historical accuracy while incorporating fictional elements to enhance the storytelling.

Bader (02:23): "I tried to fit all of my imaginative speculation within the framework of facts because you don't want people who really know a lot about history to be taken out of it..."

She meticulously researched Arendt's life, integrating factual events with creative liberties to construct a narrative that honors historical truth while engaging the audience theatrically.

Development and Expansion of the Play

Originally a two-character play, the script evolved into a three-character piece after a pivotal reading at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Bader recounts how witnessing the play live revealed the potential for an additional character, necessitating deeper exploration of interpersonal dynamics within the story.

Bader (04:53): "I had to imagine a lot more about him because we knew so little about that person."

This evolution enriched the play, allowing for a more nuanced portrayal of the historical context and the individuals involved.

Collaboration with Director Ari Lara

The partnership between Bader and Director Ari Lara is a cornerstone of the play's success. Their collaboration began serendipitously at a wedding, where despite initial apprehensions about shared interests, they discovered a synergistic creative rapport.

Bader (05:15): "Ari is an incredible director... She's also a generative artist."

Lara's multifaceted expertise—ranging from classical piano to drama therapy—complements Bader's vision, fostering an environment where the play's potential is fully realized. Their joint endeavors include founding Theater167, inspired by the cultural diversity of Jackson Heights, showcasing their commitment to innovative and inclusive theater.

Rehearsal and Casting Process

Bader discusses her selective involvement in the rehearsal process, aiming to maintain objectivity and enhance the play's quality without overshadowing the director's input.

Bader (07:34): "I try to take some time off in between my presence and rehearsals."

Regarding casting, Bader maintains a collaborative approach with Lara, ensuring that selected actors align with the play's vision while preserving her ultimate approval.

Bader (08:45): "Ultimately, Ari's the one who has to work with the person, but I also have to approve them."

This dynamic ensures a harmonious blend of artistic direction and playwright intent.

Production History and Reception

The play's journey began with a reading at Luna Stage, directed and produced by Ari Lara. Bader recounts the initial enthusiasm and subsequent popularity, marked by sold-out performances and significant interest from venues across the United States and Europe.

Bader (09:10): "It was a very extraordinary beginning to the development process of this play."

However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted these plans, postponing international productions and highlighting the play's timely relevance—a sentiment echoed by theater professionals who lamented the delay in showcasing its profound themes.

Timeliness and Pandemic Impact

Despite initial setbacks due to the pandemic, the play has resurfaced with heightened relevancy in contemporary times. The delayed productions now resonate even more deeply with audiences confronting similar political and social tensions, underscoring the play's enduring significance.

Bader (10:42): "Here we are with it being more timelier."

This resurgence speaks to the universal and timeless nature of Arendt's philosophies and the play's exploration of power dynamics.

Final Reflections and Questions for Hannah Arendt

In contemplating what she would ask Hannah Arendt if given the chance, Bader expresses a desire to delve deeper into the specific historical incident that inspired the play and to understand Arendt's worldview and perspectives on today's world.

Bader (11:00): "I would have a lot of questions for her about her kind of her worldview... we can't actually know for sure what she would say."

This reflection underscores the play's role in bridging past and present, inviting audiences to engage with Arendt's enduring ideas through dramatic interpretation.

Conclusion

Lauren Klasschneider wraps up the conversation by expressing gratitude for Bader's contribution and the enriching discussion.

A (12:14): "I'm Lauren Klassen Schneider with Jenny Lynn Bader, playwright of Mrs. Stern wanders the Prussian State Library at the WP Theatre."

This episode of BroadwayRadio offers a compelling exploration of historical narrative through theater, highlighting the meticulous craftsmanship and passionate collaboration that bring Jenny Lynn Bader's vision to life.

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Notable Quotes:

• Bader (00:58): "I wanted to recreate it."
• Bader (02:23): "I tried to fit all of my imaginative speculation within the framework of facts..."
• Bader (04:53): "I had to imagine a lot more about him because we knew so little about that person."
• Bader (05:15): "Ari is an incredible director..."
• Bader (07:34): "I try to take some time off in between my presence and rehearsals."
• Bader (08:45): "Ultimately, Ari's the one who has to work with the person, but I also have to approve them."
• Bader (09:10): "It was a very extraordinary beginning to the development process of this play."
• Bader (10:42): "Here we are with it being more timelier."
• Bader (11:00): "I would have a lot of questions for her about her kind of her worldview..."
• A (12:14): "I'm Lauren Klassen Schneider with Jenny Lynn Bader, playwright of Mrs. Stern wanders the Prussian State Library at the WP Theatre."

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the essence of the podcast episode, providing an engaging overview for those who haven't had the opportunity to listen while maintaining fidelity to the original conversation and its critical insights.

Transcript

[A]

Hi, I'm Lauren Klasschneider with Class Notes for Broadway Radio. I'm here with Jenny Lynn Bader from Mrs. Stern wanders the Prussian State Library at the WP Theater. Welcome.

[B]

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

[A]

Absolutely. Now, you as the playwright on this, will set the stage here. Berlin, 1933. With martial law in effect, political activism has become a capital crime. A young Gestapo officer arrested. Graduate student suspected of illegal research. This interrogation promises to be the most challenging as he faces the iconic 20th century thinker, Hannah Arndt. Is she innocent or an enemy of the state? Inspired by real events, this fantastical drama delves into the life and mind of one of history's most profound thinkers. So, Jenny Lynn, one has to say, what was the impulse here for you to decide to tell this story in the form of a play?

[B]

I was already interested in writing something about Hannah Arendt. She's the person who brought us the idea of the banality of evil. She coined the term totalitarianism. She invented the concept of statelessness. And she's also just a really fascinating individual. And there were some fictionalizations of her life already. But I was looking for the right story. And I read a transcript of an interview she gave in 1964. It's in a book called the Last Inter. Though it's not actually the last interview that she gave. That was later. And a journalist asked her how she got out of Germany. And her brief description of her arrest and the man who arrested her just made me gasp. And I wanted to explore that. I wanted to recreate it.

[A]

Oh, yeah. And for you it had theatricality?

[B]

Yes, it felt very theatrical. It also. It felt surprising. And I think that's what makes great theater is surprise. And, you know, we have a received idea of what a Gestapo interrogation is like. And this description was not like that. And it just made me curious to know more.

[A]

And how did you separate, like, fact from fiction in the telling of the story so it was compelling the way you wanted it to be?

[B]

Well, I absolutely love facts. I'm very interested in facts. And the more facts I could find, the better. And with somebody like this, who had already written a whole lot when she was 26, which is when she was arrested, at first I started with what she had talked about, what she had written about, what people had written about her up until that time. But then at a certain point, I started to realize that this incident was probably very formative for her and started to look at facts that, you know, events, writings, things throughout her whole life that may have been impacted from this starting point. But in terms of fiction, I, you know, you have to sometimes make things a little more complicated or a little more simple than they actually were to tell a story. Well, yeah, so I sometimes would have to do that. But in general, I tried to fit all of my imaginative speculation within the framework of facts because you don't want people who really know a lot about history to be taken out of it, or people who want to learn more to be given wrong information. So I'd like to. I feel like the facts are the sort of, you know, are the hand that holds the whole structure of the play.

[A]

In making the choice about which characters to include in telling the story. How did that come about for you?

[B]

Well, the play actually began its life as a shorter play with only two characters. And then one day they did a reading of it at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, which I saw. And it was the first time I'd actually seen it, because in the early readings, an actor had canceled on me the night before, and I had done the reading myself. And so I started to be invited to perform it. And so I had done this. I had read this scene in a few different venues, a few different festivals, and I had never actually watched it. And when I watched it, it just came to me that there's a third character in the play. And I don't want to give too much away, but the third character is mentioned a couple of times in that original interview. But I hadn't figured out until watching it how that character might appear and what might happen. So it's a character that she may have met or may have just been on the, on the periphery of the prison. He did exist. I had to imagine a lot more about him because we knew so little about that person. So it became a three character, full length play.

[A]

Well, I'm. I'm sort of glad that actor canceled. What a. What a. A process to get to where it is now. And this production is directed by Ari Lara. And how did that relationship come about, that you thought that she'd be the right director for the piece?

[B]

Well, I met Ari when she and I were fixed up at a wedding. We like to say we were the only theater people at this wedding, which was mostly scholars. It was two academics marrying each other. And there were a lot of PhDs and postdocs and professors at this wedding. And they said to me, oh, we've seated you next to the one other theater person we know, so maybe you'll work together in future. And I just thought, how embarrassing you know, and we'll probably have nothing in common and do different kinds of theater or something, but actually we've been working together since then on many, many different kinds of projects. She's an incredible director. She's a very perceptive reader who sees the potential in scripts that sometimes others might not see. She's trained as a classical pianist, so she has an incredible sense of musicality and cadence and the language of a play. She's also studied drama therapy. So she's very sensitive to the needs of actors and characters and sort of the psychology of things. She's also a generative artist. She sometimes creates a concept play, invites different writers into it. At one point she heard an incredible story that happened to my grandfather and she had met Eli Wallach at a family gathering of mine and she suggested I write a story about my grandfather and she. And cast Eli Wallach in it. And we did that. So she's just kind of. And we also ran a theater company she founded and I was her co founder of a theater company called Theater167, inspired by the number of distinctly translatable languages that are allegedly spoken in the world's most culturally diverse neighborhood in a 20 block radius, namely Jackson Heights. So I've worked with her on a lot of different kinds of things, but this is a play she had extraordinary insight into and has been the ideal director for.

[A]

Well, that's what it sounds like, but I'm sort of going back to that bride and groom who get a lot of credit.

[B]

That's right. Thank you. Ellen Clark.

[A]

In the context of rehearsal space and the two of you there together. Well, how much are you in the rehearsal room during the creation of a new piece?

[B]

I'm sort of, I'm sort of in and out of the rehearsal room. I mean, I feel my job in, in the rehearsal is to make the play better. So if there's some, if there's a problem that is not. That is coming up in the rehearsal, sometimes it's just it, it speaks to a question in the script and a line that wants to be cut or added or something that needs to be moved structurally. But if I'm there every single day, I might not be objective enough to see it. So when a play is very new, I'm there more often. But as it gets more productions, I'm there less often. And even at the beginning, I try to take, you know, some time off in between my presence and rehearsals.

[A]

And what about casting? How involved are you in the casting process for a new play of yours?

[B]

Ideally very Involved.

[A]

And do you collaborate with Ari on thoughts about casting? Does one of you have a stronger voice? How do you.

[B]

Ultimately, Ari's the one who has to work with the person, but I also have to approve them. So if there's a disagreement, she needs to sort of convince me that she's right.

[A]

And this production of the play was initially produced at Luna Stage. How do they work with playwrights and new material? And what created that relationship?

[B]

Well, that. Well, that's Ari. Luna Stage is. Ari is artistic director of Luna Stage. And I sent her the play. And as you may know, the theater world is not in its golden age anymore. And often you send a play to a theater, and rather than producing it, they say, oh, we'll just do a reading if you're lucky. And in this situation, I sent this play to Ari saying, can I have a reading of this play? And she said, actually, I want to produce it. So it was a very extraordinary beginning to the development process of this play. It hadn't even had a public reading yet. It then had one, which I asked her to direct because she was going to be directing and producing it at her theater. But at that point, the, you know, the short scene had been seen in public, but the full play had not been. And then we ended up doing a reading at another theater at Urban Stages, and the first production at Luna, which was a wonderful experience, it was very sold out. At one point, I came to do a talk back, and I couldn't get a ticket. And the. And after that production, we got interest. There was someone wanted to bring in New York. There was another venue in New Jersey that wanted to do it. There was another. There was a venue in Europe that was interested. And everything fell apart because of Pandemic. And at that time, everyone said, oh, it's too bad this play was so timely. It's too bad we can't do it right now again. And nobody thought it would actually get timelier, but. But here we are.

[A]

Here we are with it being more timelier. Last question. If Hannah were alive today and you had the opportunity to ask her a question or two, what questions come to your mind that you would want to ask?

[B]

I think I would want to ask more about that. That incident that I've been. That I've been writing about and recreating, I would. I would want to know more. I mean, people always ask me, for example, you know, what happened to the police officer, but we don't even know his name. Yes. So I would be. I would be interested in. In knowing more about the things I made up and, and how, how closely they they connect to real life. But yeah, I would have a lot of questions for her about, about her kind of her, her worldview, her, her overview of, of her life, her, her regrets, what, what, what's happening in the world today. I mean she's, we can still think about all the things we can still imagine a lot of the things that she would be thinking about the world today because she wrote about so many topics in her 30 books but we can't actually know for sure what she would say. So it would be great to talk to her. In the meanwhile we have this play.

[A]

Exactly. And thank you for this play and Jenny Lynn, thank you for the time today.

[B]

Thank you. It's a pleasure.

[A]

I'm Lauren Klaus Schneider with Jenny Lynn bader playwright of Mrs. Stern wanders the Prussian State Library at the WP Theatre than.