NEW YORK (2 September) – Robert Williams presents the return of his critically-acclaimed original play, [Unknown Heroes]. This riveting World War II drama makes its return to the Hudson Guild Theatre located at 441 W 26th Street between 9th & 10th Avenue in New York City starting Friday, 2 September 2016 at 8:30pm. Amidst the atrocities of World War II, two women cross enemy lines to make the ultimate heroic sacrifice for love. Over the course of one night in 1943 Berlin, two women; a Jewish Resistance fighter and a German cabaret singer, form an unexpected bond. In spite of a society that labels them enemies, they make a pact that threatens to overcome the evil that surrounds them. This story of love, loss, and sacrifice illuminates a rarely discussed side of the Holocaust; the will to fight back displayed by both the German and Jewish sides.
MEDIA REQUESTS
Interested media who wish to request attendance to the opening in New York City on Friday, 2 September 2016 at 8:30pm at the Hudson Guild Theatre and arrange interviews with the theatrical team, please contact WORKHOUSE, CEO Adam Nelson.
CAST
WHERE
Hudson Guild Theatre, 441 W 26th St (between 9th and 10th Ave) New York, NY 10001
THE STORY
NEW YORK. Thanks to a rich text of emotions and narrative power, Robert Williams created a spectacle of high intensity that should be remembered for his alternative approach to jew drama that is consumed in Germany during the Nazi regime. [Unknown Heroes], also has two major protagonists to count: Gudrun Buhler (Klara) and Hilary Walker. Their talent and interpretive richness remains on the skin of the spectators and makes the show unique. In summary, a sight not to be missed because amalgamation with Italian sensitivity a tough story, with very different characters who possess morality and divergent objectives.
In the winter of 1943, the Third Reich’s top military officers and the major German, knew that the war was lost. The soldiers in the trenches were disarm, in Berlin the hunt for resistance cells is still strong. The last – suggests the playwright and director Robert Williams- was headed by a woman, Miriam, and as a final mission was to deliver the travel documents for some Jewish scientists called upon to develop new armaments for the US Army.
One night, a SS unit breaks into the building where Miriam and the men of her group had the hideout. The woman on the run, desperately knocking at the door of Klara, a tenant, and asks shelter. Klara is a cabaret singer distressed by his work, unhappy lover of Gunter, the Nazi officer who commands the security operations in the area and who ordered the raid.
Klara decided to open the door. In this desperate and dangerous context, including Klara and Miriam it founded an unlikely brotherhood reinforced by maternity sharing (Miriam has a daughter who lives in hiding, to Klara instead in college). Both women are on the run, both feel the call of justice and freedom.
Williams and its actors have done an incredible job, to offer a spectacle (which has as its background an historic setting, although created by the author’s imagination) that for once does justice those Germans who risked their lives to help Jews.
The story told by Williams provides two final twists that should not be told out of respect for those who will go to see the show.
The Miriam-Klara relationship is consumed within minutes and is the epicenter of the text, an excellent decision in the context of a story of action-drama. The two women have little time, are hunted and their relationship is as deep as fleeting. [Unknown Heroes] lives in those minutes its apogee.
The opening of the show is entrusted with a powerful narrative effect. such as prayer that Miriam reads when it is invaded by the fear of his mission, but also to slow down the action, as in the scene where within the resistance cell intertwines the debate on the future of Jewish people.
The overall yield is that of an entertainment show, from the dazzling costumes, where the Nazi aggression against Jews is told in an original way while the actors give the best of themselves in terms of intensity and interpretative clarity.
It should be recognized that it has given all the actors themselves, and the two actresses to play the game in two difficult roles ( Gudrun Buhler and Hilary Walker). But also by a cast that reads without exceeding the bounds of the drama in a masterful way.
Roles: Gudrun Buhler (Klara), Hilary Walker (Miriam) Ron Nunni (Gunter), Kazy Tauginas (Fritz junior officer), Matt McAllister, Luke Bond and Ian Potter (Herman, Hans and Joseph one the jewish fighters).
[Unknown Heroes] is staged every Friday (8:30 pm), Saturday (8:30 pm) and Sunday (1 pm) at the Hudson Guild – 441W 26th St, NY,NY, 10001
Paolo Tartamella
US Today
THE CHARACTERS
LUKE BOND (Hans) Luke has performed at The Cortland Repertory Theater (Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily), The Secret Theater (The Shape of Things), The Playroom Theater (Much Ado About Nothing), The Point Theater (Research Subjects), The Heights Players (The Long Christmas Dinner, The Agreement), The St. Jean Players (The Diary of Ann Frank), The Hudson Guild Theater, [Unknown Heroes], The Ritz Company Playhouse (The Drowsy Chaperone, High School Reunion, Clever Dick), and many others. He has made appearances on TV shows such as Girl Code, Mysteries of the Castle (Recurring), and CNN’s The Hunt with John Walsh. He trained at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan.
MATT MCALLISTER (Herman) Matt is a journeyman actor of the New York theater scene. He was a theater minor at Ohio Wesleyan University, and studied at HB Studios. Some of his favorite theater roles include Mr. Hodges, Josh in “That is How I Left,” Talking Dog in “An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein” and Graham in “Dead Lunch”. Other productions include Moll, Living Quarters, Juno and The Peacock, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Hunter Gatherer’s, 36-24-36, and Self. He is thrilled to be returning for [Unknown Heroes] third inception in a part he loves and created, Herman.
KAZY TAUGINAS (Fritz) Kazy Tauginas is a graduate from the New York Film Academy’s One Year Conservatory Acting for Film program and has worked on numerous film titles. Within the last two years, Kazy has been seen in “John Wick,” NBC’s “The Blacklist,” “Blindspot,” “Law and Order: SVU,” and CBS’s “Person of Interest.” In 2015 he wrote, directed and acted in “Standing Eight” – a film about a professional boxer who must contend with life outside of the ring after being diagnosed with systemic lupus. This is the third time Kazy is reprising his role as Fritz Weber in [Unknown Heroes].
RON NUMMI (Gunter) Ron was fortunate enough to arrive in New York during the time that the Actor’s Studio was still being led by Lee Strasberg. He has starred in several motion pictures and television programs. Additionally, he has performed in countless stage productions and has had the pleasure of working with such luminaries as John Patrick Shanley, Robert DeNiro, Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, William Hurt, Christopher Walken, Ben Gazzara and Burt Young among many others.
IAN POTTER (Joseph) Ian Potter was born and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He holds a BA in Theatre Performance from Westchester University. After college Ian worked for five years at Gamut Classic Theatre/Harrisburg Shakespeare Company as their Scenic Designer/Carpenter/Painter/ and Core Company Actor. During his time with the company he played such roles as: Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Mercutio (Romeo & Juliet), Hamlet (Hamlet), among others. Since moving to New York in September 2015 Ian has been fully involved in the film scene starring in such films as: “Sins of Excess,” “Max’s Dark Secret,” “Interrogation,” and “Friday Night Dead.” He is also currently involved in a filmed stage production of the original play “The Tragic Circumstances of 1948.”
HILARY WALKER (Miriam) New York stage appearances include: The Daughter in Click Chamber-Buffalo Noir (Festival of the Offensive); Janine in 200 Mystical Fictions (Lucille Lortel); Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion (NYC Theatre Alliance). London: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (MacOwen Theatre). Regional theatre: Death Of A Salesman, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, The Importance of Being Earnest, Henry IV Part I. Film: Mercy (upcoming on Netflix), Child Eater, My Dream Beside Me, Trevor. TV/Web: “Failed First Dates”, “Stringers End”. Studies include workshops with Alexander Ferris (Old Vic Theatre) and private coaching/scene study with Cay Michael Patten Studios (NYC). Training: London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), BFA from SUNY University at Buffalo
GUNDRUN BUHLER (Klara) Gudrun is a graduate of HB Studios and the Acting School Karlsruhe in Germany. She has been active as an actress, writer and director in NY since 2001 with roles such as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Hermione in The Winter’s Tale, and Desdemona in Othello. Gudrun is also a prize-winning writer and director who won prizes with her productions of “Romeo and Juliet the Musical,” “Who is afraid of the Moon?,” “Dances of Life and Death” by E. Thomalen, “The Mosquito Lake,” “Persian Garden,” and “The Moskego Lake” by J.Spano. In 2015 Gudrun was on tour in Europe and America with the critically acclaimed one woman show “The Other Mozart.” Gudrun played Klara in all three runs of [Unknown Heroes]
ROBERT WILLIAMS (Producer/Director) Robert Williams is a playwright and director of theater and film. His recent work includes writing and directing “War is Over,” a short film denouncing war, that was screened in Rome, Milan, Ghent, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Ottawa, New York, San Diego and Las Vegas. He also wrote and directed “It Was a Girl,” a short film that raised awareness about the controversial tragedy of abortion that was screened at New York Film Academy in New York. In 2012, he directed and co-wrote with Michele Farbman “That is How I Left,” (ThatIsHowILeft.com), a powerful biographical play staged at the Living Theater to critical acclaim. Robert is currently writing a film adaptation of [Unknown Heroes]. He has directed and wrote several plays since arriving in NY in 1999, including “That Is How I Left,” “Antigone,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Spelling Bee Test” and “Bluebird.” [Unknown Heroes] is his original most beloved play.