THE PLAY
A Gestapo officer arrests a graduate student. Interrogating her will be dangerous for them both. Inspired by real events and the life and work of the iconic thinker Hannah Arendt.
Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library had its world premiere, then its New York premiere, both produced by Luna Stage Company, which brought it Off-Broadway to 59E59 Theaters in October-November 2024 in a run that sold out and extended, then transferred it to the WP Theatre in December 2024-January 2025.
Next Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse will present it, in association with Luna Stage, and with the same director & cast, September 6-27, 2025. Then the production will run at Luna Stage in West Orange, NJ in October-November 2025.
An acting edition is forthcoming. Meanwhile, you can order it in manuscript form from Dramatists Play Service.
THE AUTHOR
Jenny Lyn Bader
Jenny Lyn Bader has been named a 2025 “Visionary Playwright” by Theater Masters. She is the author of plays including Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library (59E59), Equally Divine (14th St. Y), In Flight (Workshop Theatre), Manhattan Casanova (Hudson Stage), and None of the Above (New Georges). Her work has been seen at the Signature Theatre, Humana Festival of New American Plays, Symphony Space), and the NY Int’l Fringe (“Best of Fringe” selection). Her audio productions include Communal Table (Broadway Podcast Network) and Tree Confessions (This is Not a Theater Co., w/ Kathleen Chalfant). Her work has been published in Plays International & Europe, Lincoln Center Theater Review, and The New York Times, where she was a frequent contributor to the “Week in Review.” A Harvard alumna, she has received the Best Documentary One Woman Show Award (United Solo Fest), Athena Playwriting Fellowship, Edith Oliver Award (O’Neill Center), and Lark Playwriting Fellowship (nominated by Wendy Wasserstein). She belongs to the Dramatists Guild, LPTW, and Honor Roll. www.jennylynbader.com
THE CREATIVE TEAM
Ari Laura Kreith*** (Director)
Ari is Artistic Director of Luna Stage, where her directing credits include world premieres of RIFT (Venturous Award), Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library, and The Voting Writes Project (NEA Art Works) and the regional premiere of Heartland (Star-Ledger Top 10). As Artistic Director of NYC’s Theatre 167 she conceived/directed The Jackson Heights Trilogy (3 full-length plays collaboratively written by 18 playwrights featuring 37 actors playing 93 roles in 14 languages), and directed the world premieres of Pirira (NYIT Award: Best Production), Singing Beach (HERE), and Mourning Sun (West End Theatre/Kampala, Uganda.) Ari designed immersive commissions for Queens Museum and the NY Transit Museum, and conceived/directed The Ground On Which We Stand, which received the Giles R. Wright Award for Excellence in African American History. BA: Yale University.
Lauren Helpern** (Scenic Design)
Lauren has designed numerous world premiere and critically acclaimed productions including: 4000 Miles (Lincoln Center–Lortel Award), Bad Jews (Roundabout), Skintight (Roundabout and Geffen Playhouse–Robby Award nomination), Model Apartment, and BUG (Obie Award). Her work has been seen from Hartford Stage to La Jolla Playhouse, on the National Tour of American Girl Live!, and in several productions of Blue Man Group. She was the production designer for Ari Shaffir–Jew (over 7.3 million views on YouTube). She is a partner in Butter Designs, a full-service design firm for installations and activations.
Judy Bowman, CSA (Casting Director)
UPCOMING: Bullethead (dir. Scott Schwartz), The Humans (Palm Beach Drama Works), Jeffrey Hatcher’s Dial M for Murder (Arizona/Pioneer), Little Women (Geva Theatre). RECENT: RIFT (Luna Stage), True Art (Dorset Theatre Festival), Festival of New Jewish Plays (Berkshire Theatre Group/JPP), Summer, 1976 (Wellfleet HAT), Sanctuary City (Kitchen Theatre Co/Geva), Where We Belong (Folger/Woolly Mammoth tours) A View from the Bridge (SOOP), & the Sharon Playhouse season. Films include First Shift, Hurricane Bianca, Gold Star, Separation, One Moment, and the TV series Big Dogs. Numerous short films, webseries, and audio projects. Board Member/Resident Casting: Jewish Plays Project. Judy has cast numerous plays at 59e59. judybowmancasting.com
Lucas Pinner (Production Manager)
At Luna: Queen of the Night (Director), RIFT, Westphalia, A Trojan Woman, TRICH. In addition to his work as Production Manager at Luna, Lucas is an actor, fight choreographer and teaching artist. Performance credits include Richard III (Oxford Shakespeare Company), Peter and the Starcatcher (The Growing Stage), Razia’s Shadow (Bullet Theatre Collaborative). For the last decade, Lucas has worked as a teaching artist with many theatres, including Luna Stage, Paper Mill Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, and Two River Theatre Company. lucaspinner.com
CAST
Ella Dershowitz* (Hannah)
Theater: Connected (59E59), Can You Forgive Her? (Vineyard Theatre), Intimacy (New Group), Card and Gift (Clubbed Thumb), The Two Hander (NJ Rep), Joy and Pandemic (Huntington), Sovereignty and Thomas and Sally (Marin Theatre Company), Three Musketeers: 1941 (Project Y), 4,000 Miles and You Will Remember Me (Hudson Stage), Actually (Aurora), The Wolves (Capital Stage), On the Verge (Attic), Visitors and The Screenwriter’s Daughter (Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse), A Splintered Soul (Rosalind Productions), The Siegel (City Lights), Twelfth Night (Payomet). TV/Film: Phil Spector (HBO), The Affair (Showtime), Lie to Me (Fox), Knife Fight, Two-Bit Waltz, Pitching Tents. Yale University. Crossword puzzle constructor.
Brett Temple* (Karl)
Brett is honored to return to Mrs. Stern after the world premiere at Luna Stage. Some of his previous stage credits include The Valley of the Shadow (WP Theatre) and Henry IV, Part One (Shakespeare’s Globe). TV/Film: Mrs. Fletcher (HBO), Bull (CBS), and the upcoming film When The Moon Was Twice as Big. Graduated from Rutgers, Mason Gross. www.bretttemple.com
Drew Hirshfield* (Erich)
Drew is lucky enough to have worked on plays by Bertolt Brecht, Francis Beaumont, Sandy Rustin, Arthur Miller, Kate Hamill, Robert Askins, Jordan Seavey, Lucas Hnath, Anton Chekhov, Steve Martin, Peter Shaffer, Lanford Wilson, Sam Shepard, Oliver Goldsmith, Tom Stoppard, Neil Simon, Steven Sater, Shakespeare, and many others, at theaters and rehearsal rooms large and small across the county. He’s long served on the acting faculty at New York Film Academy. He earned an MFA from American Conservatory Theater.
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
**Member of United Scenic Artists. Designers are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.
***The Director is a member of the STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union.
