Essential Collective Theatre tackles the collective imperative to fight historical amnesia by learning from the atrocities of the past in East of Berlin, their first production of the 19/20 season, a HOT TICKET presentation from 3 - 12 October, 2019.

East of Berlin by award-winning Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch is a timely tour-de-force that questions redemption, love, guilt, and the sins of the father, following a young man's emotional upheaval as he struggles to come to terms with a frightening past.

Vergangenheitsbewältigung is a German word describing the attempt to analyze, digest and learn to live with the past, in particular the Holocaust - "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it".

The pressing need to learn from the atrocities of history on this, the 75th anniversary of D-Day is painfully apparent in Essential Collective Theatre’s production of Canadian playwright Hannah Moscoviwich’s East of Berlin. 

Raising questions about the culpability of those responsible for horrific crimes against humanity, the play also illustrates the effects on future generations and reminds us of how our complacency and silence can condemn us to repeat our capacity for cruelty.

About the Play: 

As a teenager, Rudi discovers that his father was a doctor at Auschwitz. Questioning redemption, love, guilt and the sins of the father, East of Berlin follows Rudi's emotional upheaval as he comes to terms with a frightening past that was never his own.

About the Playwright: 

Hannah's writing for the stage includes Essay, The Russian Play, The Mill Part II: The Huron Bride, The Children's Republic, Little One and In This World (for young audiences). Hannah's plays have been produced across the country, including at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto where she is currently playwright-in-residence, the Factory Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Great Canadian Theatre Company, and the Magnetic North Theatre Festival. Hannah's work has won multiple Dora Awards and she's been nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award, the Carol Bolt Award, and the international Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Hannah is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and attended the University of Toronto. 

About the Company: 

Building a canon of Niagara plays and producing relevant Canadian contemporary professional theatre we are Niagara's Essential Collective Theatre. ECT prides itself on mentoring local emerging artists, supporting playwrights, and telling stories that hold up a mirror to the Niagara Region.

ALL TICKETS: $30 

UNIVERSITY & COLLEGE: $25 //  HIGH SCHOOL: $5 

For tickets, visit firstontariopac.ca.