Shelley Mitchell's TALKING WITH ANGELS: BUDAPEST, 1943 Comes to Theaterlab

Theaterlab has announced a new production of Talking with Angels: Budapest, 1943, a powerful one-woman show that has earned critical acclaim and heartfelt admiration from audiences across the U.S. and internationally. Adapted and performed by Los Angeles-based writer, performer, and coach Shelley Mitchell, this two-act play brings to life the extraordinary true story of Gitta Mallasz whose courageous actions and spiritual revelations stand as a beacon of resilience and faith during one of history's darkest times.

Based on the book Talking with Angels by Gitta Mallasz, the play intertwines two gripping narratives overshadowed by the Holocaust. One depicts Mallasz's daring impersonation of a Nazi officer to protect over a hundred Jewish women and children. The other recounts the spiritual encounters with metaphysical presences offering profound guidance amid the chaos, as channeled by Gitta's friend Hanna Dallos and transcribed by Mallasz. Enhanced by Mitchell's personal journey of recovery from a high-control 1970s cult, the performance is both a poignant testament to spiritual independence and a call to contemplate the Divine beyond dogma and doctrine.

Talking with Angels: Budapest, 1943 premiered to sold-out audiences in New York City just days after 9/11, offering solace and inspiration during a time of collective grief. Now reimagined with a new creative team, including dramaturg Amy Marie Seidel (Tectonic Theater's Here There Are Blueberries) and director Molly Shayna Cohen. An opera virtuoso Litha Ashforth provides original music; set design is by Elena Vannoni, lighting design by Molly Tiede, and visual design by Paul Deziel. The play will have a limited four-week engagement at Theaterlab (357 W 36th St, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10018) from March 6 to 30, 2025.

The events that inspired Talking with Angels span from the summer of 1943 to December 1944, a period marked by the deportation of over half a million Hungarian Jews to concentration camps. Mallasz, a celebrated athlete and graphic designer, lived with her close friends-Hanna Dallos, Joseph Kreutzer, and Lili Strausz-in a house on the outskirts of Budapest. Together, they experienced extraordinary encounters with angelic entities who gave them counsel and comfort, that they faithfully transcribed in their journals.

When the Nazis invaded Hungary, Mallasz's bravery came to the forefront. Disguising herself as a Nazi officer, she managed a factory that served as a sanctuary for Jewish women and children. For her heroic efforts, she was honored as "Righteous Among Nations" by the Yad Vashem Museum, in 2012. Tragically, her friends were ultimately captured and perished in concentration camps. Their journals, published by Mallasz in French in 1978 as Dialogue avec l'Ange, became a best-selling book in France and has since been translated into 26 languages. Eventually, Mitchell was inspired to adapt this spiritual and historical narrative for the stage.

or Shelley Mitchell, the book was a lifeline during her recovery from exiting a high-control cult. Initially skeptical, she found its themes of spiritual independence and attunement to one's own inner wisdom both compelling and inherently theatrical. After years of contemplation, Mitchell distilled Mallasz's 500-page account into a dynamic 40-page script. "I think this story resonates deeply with anyone on an independent spiritual path, or living in an interfaith family," Mitchell explains. "We are living in a time where technology allows us to appear perpetually perfect, or to try to appear perfect 24/7, and I think a lot of people are exhausted and stressed out by it. My greatest hope is that Talking with Angels empowers audiences to embrace the transformative power of faith in something larger than ourselves and the freedom that comes with self-acceptance."

Her performances of Talking with Angels earned accolades from luminaries like Carroll Ballard (The Black Stallion, Never Cry Wolf), who called it "a tour de force," and Sean Penn, who described Mitchell as "the real deal." Audiences worldwide have praised Mitchell's performance for its emotional depth and transcendent grace, making Talking with Angels: Budapest, 1943 a must-see event for anyone seeking inspiration through art and storytelling.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Shelley Mitchell (Adaptor, Performer) is a multi-faceted performer, coach, and writer based in LA, whose extraordinary life experiences include modeling for Salvador Dalí, living off the grid in Venice, Italy, and studying with renowned acting teacher Lee Strasberg. Shelley has performed Talking with Angels over 400 times across the U.S. and internationally. Her stage credits include Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo's org*smo Adulto Escapes from the Zoo and A Woman Alone, which earned her a Best Actress nomination from the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. On-screen, Shelley appears in the award-winning films Sorry to Bother You and Green is Gold, both written and directed by her students. As a coach with over three decades of experience, Shelley has collaborated with a wide range of artists from Tom Waits, Shia LaBeouf, Sam Corlett, and Boots Riley to Aly & AJ. Her expertise also extends to coaching start-up CEOs, engineers, and industrial designers, helping them deliver stress-free and impactful public speaking performances. In a recent crossover success, one of her CEO clients is featured in the new thriller Babygirl.

Shelley's blend of intuitive guidance and her holistic approach to performance creates transformative experiences for both the actor and the audience. www.shelleymitchell.org.

Molly Shayna Cohen (Director) is a multi/mixed-media theatre artist whose work centers on moments of transformation and the ephemerality in all things. Since moving to New York from Baltimore in 2022, she has worked at Mabou Mines, Theaterlab, The Public Theater, En Garde Arts, New Victory Theatre, and more. She serves as the Associate Artistic Director of Theatre of the Electric Mouth, founding member of film collective Lux Daze Media, and company member of the award-winning experimental theatre group The Acme Corporation. She was the recipient of the Best Actor of Baltimore Award in 2020 and is a2025 MFA Directing Candidate at Brooklyn College.mollyshaynacohen.com

Amy Marie Seidel (Dramaturg) is a NYC-based theater director, writer, and dramaturg who has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally. She is a company member at Tectonic Theater Project, where she has developed numerous plays, including Here There Are Blueberries, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, recently performed at New York Theatre Workshop, and Seven Deadly Sins, which won the 2022 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. She has also brought two major new musicals to Broadway as a part of team directing: Paradise Square (2022) and The Great Gatsby (2024). www.amymarieseidel.com

Litha Ashforth (Original Music) is a coloratura soprano and composer celebrated for her vocal agility and innovative artistry. Awards include the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation Award, Maestro Award, and New England Conservatory's Entrepreneurial Musicianship Grant. Operatic highlights include Hansel and Gretel (Gretel), The Tales of Hoffmann (Olympia), and Die Fledermaus (Adele). A strong advocate for contemporary music, she has premiered over a dozen works and will debut the title role in Don DiNicola's Vespa in NYC. As a composer and sound designer, Ashforth collaborates with MIT on wearable instruments, including "The Vest" and "The Talking Stick." She holds a Bachelor of Music from the New England Conservatory (2023) and is based in Berlin and NYC. Litha Ashforth

Elena Vannoni (Set Design) is an accomplished theatre director and set and Costume Designer with a rich background in the arts. She began her career by studying costume design at the Art Institute of Florence and later earned degrees in History of Music and Theatre from the University of Florence and Theatre Direction from the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome. Her award-winning direction, including the 2005 National Prize of the Arts, highlights her talent. Notable works include Miss Julie by Strindberg and The Divine Mimesis by Pasolini. Elena draws from methodologies like Grotowski, Commedia dell'Arte, and Orazio Costa's Mimesic Method, emphasizing physical performance. Her career has taken her globally, from Berlin to New York, where she earned a Master's in Theatre Directing at Columbia University. Currently based in New York, Elena continues to work on various theatre projects, contributing her versatile artistic vision to the stage. www.elenavannoni.com

Molly Tiede (Lighting Design) is a lighting designer, specializing in theater, opera, immersive design, and corporate events. Designing in NYC theaters such as HERE, The Sheen Center, Abrons Arts Center, and many more. Associate and Assistant credits include Broadway (Walter Kerr), The Vineyard Theater, Roundabout Theater, Signature Theater, Labyrinth Theater Company, and Gotham Chamber Opera; she also worked in London's West End (Vaudeville Theater). She is currently the Lighting Director and Associate Lighting Designer for the Tectonic Theater Project's production of Here There Are Blueberries. mollytiededesign.com

Alessandra Marconi (Choreography) is a choreographer and movement director whose work spans Broadway, film, television, and concert dance. She is the Resident Choreographer for Broadway's Hamilton and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and served as Stage Director for Do the Hustle, presented by Works & Process at the Guggenheim. Her choreography credits include contributions to Al Blackstone's Weekend '76 at the Fire Island Dance Festival, NYU's The Reality Show (2022), and the Drama League Gala honoring Nathan Lane (2018). Marconi's work also includes co-creating the original theater production ALEXA and movement direction for the Nicotine Dolls and Netflix's Westside. As a performer, she has appeared in Halston (Netflix), In the Heights (Warner Bros.), iLuminate (Off-Broadway), and Polaris by Crystal Pite at New York City Center. A former dancer with Cincinnati's Exhale Dance Tribe, she continues to inspire through her dynamic approach to storytelling and movement. www.alessandramarconi.com

Paul Deziel (Visual Design) is a New York- and Chicago-based projection designer. His work has been seen at The Goodman Theatre, The Muny, Asolo Rep, The Second City, En Garde Arts, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Paramount Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Court Theatre, American Blues Theater, The Neo-Futurists, Jackalope Theatre Company, Mosaic Theatre Company, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and many others. He holds a B.A. in Theatre from Columbia College Chicago and an M.F.A. in Projection & Multimedia from the University of Maryland. He is a proud artistic affiliate with American Blues Theater and a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. www.pauldeziel.com

Theaterlab (Orietta Crispino, Artistic Director) has served as a hub for experimental performing arts for New York's innovative creatives since 2006. Based in the current Midtown location since 2011 and offering three all-white performance spaces, it offers a clean and well-kept creative canvas for new work that subverts expectations and defies categorization, with a special focus on work by female artists. Every season, Theaterlab produces several experimental and cross-disciplinary programs, including Hotel New Work, a short-term residency for ensemble-driven works; Mothers, Myths, Monsters, presenting short works-in-progress; Voices Inside, a writing and theater program for incarcerated writers; Round the Block!, bringing together performance venues and businesses throughout the Garment District; First Look, a new program for emerging artists to produce never-before-seen work. Recent Theaterlab Presents productions include Let Me Cook For You by Orietta Crispino; HAPTIC DRIFT, a multimedia series curated by TESTU collective; Joseph Medeiros's workshop of Telemachus: Book 1-4 of The Odyssey in Ancient Greek; and The Postpoetic Machine, a multimedia exhibit and a series of performances revolving around experimental cybernetic installations by the groundbreaking Venezuela-born Mafe Izaguirre. Theaterlab's mission is to serve the Garment District's diverse population of artists and audiences by producing energetic and experimental art that interrogates the nature of live performance.

To post a comment, you must register and login.