MRT Presents WHEN YELLOW WERE THE STARS ON EARTH July 23-28

The Manhattan Repertory Theatre presents When Yellow Were the Stars on Earth, a new WWII drama about the Holocaust by Franco Moschetti. The cast of eight includes Gudrun Buhler, Michele Farbman, Franco Moschetti, Johannes Schwäger, Kazy Tauginas, Sergey Nagorny, Matt McAllister, and David Schwartz. When Yellow Were the Stars on Earth will play at the Manhattan Repertory Theatre, 303 West 42nd Street, 3rd Floor, NYC, 10036 for three performances from July 23-28, 2011 (Saturday, July 23 @ 3pm; Sunday, July 24 @ 7pm; and Thursday, July 28 @ 9pm).

One night in Berlin, in 1943, two women, a German cabaret singer and a Jewish Resistance fighter, cross paths in a most unexpected way. As the hours unfold, destiny locks their lives undeniably together until both choose to make the ultimate sacrifice for one another. When Yellow Were the Stars on Earth dares to bring together two rarely written about historical realities: Jewish female fighters and Germans who died refusing to be part of Nazi machinery. Amidst the atrocities of WWII, this heroic pair transcends enemy lines through love for an adversary neither expected to meet.

About his play, Franco Moschetti imparts, "The tragedy of the Holocaust is written in indelible ink on our past. For most of my life I have felt very close in my heart to the unimagineable pain caused by the annihilation of 6 million Jews. This event, which has left a deep scar on our history, is profoundly connected to another subject that, to my knowledge, has never been dealt with, and that is the considerable number of Germans who died opposing the horrors of the Nazi machine. They are not remembered as heroes; they've just been forgotten, swallowed by time. It is from this knowledge that my play was written. I wrote it out of my personal wish to create an imaginary place in time and space where, for once, a German (Klara) and a Jew (Miriam) could meet, look at each other beyond their ethnic imprint and the tragedies that linked them during WWII, and find in themselves the primal love that is common to all souls."

When Yellow Were the Stars on Earth is presented by the Manhattan Repertory Theatre Summerfest 2011. Stage Manager: George Acosta; Lighting Designer: Lori Mannette

When Yellow Were the Stars on Earth plays for three performances on the following schedule: Saturday, July 23 @ 3pm; Sunday, July 24 @ 7pm; and Thursday, July 28 @ 9pm.

Italian-born writer and director Franco Moschetti is a veteran at organizing theatrical events in Europe and New York. From 2003 to 2005, he organized over 200 people in elaborately choreographed, theatrical marches down New York City's Fifth Avenue. One of the more prominent of these marches was a 200-person re-creation of the Money scene from the movie Cabaret, a number that got front-page coverage in the Daily News. In Ghent, Belgium, from 2003 to 2005, Franco organized live performances featuring a long list of entertainers from various artistic backgrounds. In 2010, Franco, who recently graduated from the New York Film Academy, wrote and directed two short films. He is currently putting on stage When Yellow Were the Stars on Earth, a play about female Jewish Resistance fighters and the heroic sacrifices of many Germans in WWII who refused to participate in Nazi machinery. He has also co-written a script for a feature-length movie which will start shooting this coming fall and is currently busy co-writing a book of short stories about Jewish Americans in modern-day New York.

The run time for When Yellow Were the Stars on Earth is 80 minutes with no intermission.

Tickets are $20 and can be reserved by calling 646-329-6588.

Manhattan Repertory Theatre is located at 303 W. 42nd St. (at 8th Ave.) on the Third Floor.

Manhattan Repertory Theatre was founded in August 2005 by Ken Wolf, Artistic Director and Jennifer Pierro, Director of Productions. Since its inception, MRT has produced over 600 plays and worked with over 4000 theatre artists. MRT's mission is to help all artists get their work produced in a professional, supportive and clean environment.

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