Lowlands (Romania)

Adapted for stage by Mihaela Panainte after the homonymous book by Herta Müller
Translated into English by Jozefina Komporaly
Directed by: Ana Margineanu
Associate director: Jack Cavanaugh-Gialloreto
Choreographer: Răzvan Stoian

Performed in English.
Running time: 65 minutes

Originally a volume of short stories, ”Lowlands” by Nobel Prize for Literature winner Herta Müller, born in Romania in the sizeable German (Schwaben) ethnic group of Banat Region, offers a poignant portrayal of life under the repressive regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu, from the perspective of the German minority in Romania. Seen through the eyes of a child narrator, using both poetry and frankness to convey the harsh realities of the time, the book captures the malaise of an existence suffocated by the constraints of both a dictatorship and a closed off community.

“Lowlands” was originally published in the volume “Plays from Romania: Dramaturgies of Subversion”, edited and translated by Jozefina Komporaly, Bloomsbury, 2021

Cast: Maria Müller (Narrator, Child Narrator); Calaine Schafer (Mother, Blonde Girl, Scarecrow); Vas Eli (Father, Tony); Allison Fletcher (Grandmother, Aunt); Miguel Loyola (Grandfather, Man with Matchsticks)

Co-presented with the Romanian Cultural Institute in association with Untitled Theater Company No. 61

Performed in English.

Part of Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival honoring Vaclav Havel, produced by the Václav Havel Center (VHC) and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association.