M - The Actors' Gang
M
2019
Written by Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou
Adapted and Directed by Tess Vidal
A maelstrom of bodies fills the streets of a diseased post-WWI city in Germany. A blind man hangs on to a cloud of balloons. A man named Hans, hiding a sinful secret walks alongside a little girl. Elsie Beckman. The blind man’s balloons vibrate and dance as the sinner’s whistle travels ominously through the streets, getting louder and louder. And that’s the last we see of Elsie, the latest of Hans’ victims, and a serial child murderer remains on the loose.
M is a projection of a dystopia—a cautionary tale in which the law becomes lawless and the line between those who are being protected and those who are being oppressed blurs. The great German film director, Fritz Lang, maintained that society’s reaction to Hans, portrayed by Peter Lorre in the film, revealed the danger and hysteria lurking behind the indolent bourgeois facade of 1930s Germany, and that Hans embodied a society in the grip of its own self destructive urges.
Our Cast:
- Pierra Adeli – Defense, Ensemble
- James Edward Bane – Ensemble
- Ionana Gratiela Brancusi – Blind Beggar, Ensemble
- Julia Camara-Calvo – Ensemble
- Mela Green – Pickpocket, Ensemble
- Julia Finch – Police Chief, Ensemble
- Dora Kiss – Landlord, Ensemble
- Beejan Land – Ensemble
- Savannah Schoenecker – Ensemble
- Tom Szymanski – Lohmann, Ensemble
- Miroslav Vejnovic – Hans Beckert
- Andrea Monte Warren – Schranker, Ensemble
- Cady Zuckerman – Ensemble
By joining us for our workshop productions, for a negligible fare, you’re becoming part of a provocative experiment, a new work that takes risks, a brand new piece of theater and, potentially, a future main stage production. In the past, The New Colossus, Break the Whip, Embedded, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and countless other shows have started as workshop productions. This year’s production, Fritz Lang’s M is currently being dreamed up by a team of travelers ready to push the boundaries and create a startling journey of theater for you. We know the route, we know how to drive the train, but the destination will be a surprise.