Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library

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Jenny Lyn Bader’s Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library has moved from a successful run at the 59E59 Theater to the intimate WP Theater on the Upper West Side. This is fortunate for those who missed it.

Mrs. Stern shines a light on a dark moment in the life of a major cultural figure of the twentieth century whose career was nearly short circuited.

It is Berlin, 1933, and 26-year-old scholar Hannah Stern (Ella Dershowitz) has been detained by the Nazi SS and is ushered into a dreary cell by Karl, a young police officer (Brett Temple) (realistic scenery by Lauren Helpern).  She, a Jew, has been accused of referencing pro-Zionist material at the Prussian State Library. Zionism was condemned by the Nazi government which considered it a Jewish, left-wing conspiracy.

She is frisked and forced to sign several documents including some that might incriminate her.  She is also given a cup of coffee which she detests and is offered, by way of an apology, a much better brew from the officers’ kitchen, an early sign that Karl is not the demonic Nazi we expect.  Their almost pleasant tugs-of-war between the brilliant Jewish thinker with a doctorate from the University of Heidelberg and the naïve, uneducated Nazi functionary run through Mrs. Stern.

This combination of military formality and touches of kindness mark the relationship between Karl and Hannah as they both get caught in the bureaucratic web.  He is kind to her when he puts her through the messy process of finger printing, but the fact that her mother was also arrested increases her anxiety. A subtle, unspoken, sense that he finds her attractive is evident throughout.  He has to constantly pull himself back to his duties even after inquiring about her relationship with her husband.

There is an “a-hah moment” when Hannah reveals her maiden name: Arendt, placing this microcosmic moment into the texture of twentieth century philosophy.  Arendt is probably best known for observing the trial of Nazi fiend Adolph Eichmann and summarizing it all as the “banality of evil.”

Karl takes to Hannah even in the short time of her imprisonment and takes time to explain the hierarchy he is part of and seems to struggle against.  More than likely, Karl will harden and the conversations he has with Hannah will become a thing of the past.

The conversations touch on philosophy—Kant and Heidegger, for example—and family, particularly Hannah’s anxiety about her imprisoned mother.  Karl also confronts her with some overly romantic poetry that his superiors have dug up, seemingly to embarrass her.

At one point Hannah is permitted to speak with a lawyer, Erich Landau (Drew Hirshfield) who frighteningly tells her that she is to be charged with treason.

How she wrangles out of this in Berlin 1933 where growing anti-Semitic sentiment hints at the Holocaust to come tests Bader’s skill as a playwright.  Her play is a gem.

Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library adroitly takes this tiny slice of history and mines it for all it’s worth both on the human and the historical levels.

The only quibble I have with Ari Laura Kreith’s keenly observed direction is that Hannah appears to be physically unaffected by the lack of hygiene or changes of clothing.  Nevertheless, the three actors give realistic and moving performances.

Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library (extended through January 19, 2025)

Luna Stage

WP Theater, 2162 Broadway, in Manhattan

For tickets, call 929-458-0636 or visit http://www.wptheater.org

Running time: 90 minutes without an intermission