The Hinterlands to Present TOTAL VERRUCKT at Play House

Created and performed by Joanna Caplan, Total Verrückt! tells the story of the world-renowned Jewish cabaret performers held in the Dutch transit camp of Westerbork from 1942-44. Taking its name from the Camp Westerbok Theatre Group's final production and inspired by the diaries of Jewish-Dutch poet Etty Hillesum, cabaret stars Max Ehrlich, Johnny & Jones, and Dora Gerson, Total Verrückt! Asks questions about the necessity of art as a means of survival and an act of resistance. The production will receive its Midwest premiere at Play House presented by The Hinterlands, with performances taking place on Saturday, March 7 (7:30pm and 10:00pm), Sunday, March 8 (7:30pm).

Joanna Caplan developed Total Verrückt! in residency at Double Edge Theatre's Farm Center in Ashfield, Massachusetts, in collaboration with Double Edge Theatre Co-Artistic Director Matthew Glassman (Total Verrückt Director) and Resident Artist Sarah Cormier (Total Verrückt! Designer). Her creation process combines Double Edge's immersive physical and visual training methodology with research on the legacy of Jewish artists as a way of accessing her own ancestral memory. In weaving together stories and characters connected to pre-war Germany, the Weimar Republic and the height of the German Cabaret, Total Verrückt! explores the Jewish imagination in the context of a world at war, examining how we live through and transcend strange and dark times.

Total Verrückt! premiered at The Charlestown Working Theater in Boston in May 2013, had its Canadian premiere at the Island Fringe Festival in Prince Edward Island in August 2013, was performed at Double Edge Theatre in December 2013 and March 2014 and in New Orleans in November 2014. The piece was workshopped in Los Angeles as part of the Association of Jewish Theatre Conference in February 2012, and at the Toronto Fringe Festival in July 2011. For more information please visit www.doubleedgetheatre.org/total-verruckt.html

All performances will take place at Play House, located at 12657 Moran Street, Detroit.

Ticket Prices: $10 To reserve tickets please call 313.454.1756 or email info@thehinterlandsensemble.org.