Written By Clyde Derrick
Directed By Wendy Gough Soroka (As “Wendy Gough”)
Produced by Write Act Repertory
Hollywood, California
2004-2005

Cast:
Dennis Baker
Dana Lyn Baron
Graham Bernard
Elizabeth A. Hillman
David Lengel
Ralph Lister
David Quiñones
Ashley Trevathan

Life, love, survival, repentance: A fateful collision between a Polish countess, a Jewish tailor and an German officer during the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland.

Coinciding with the High Holidays and the 10-day period of Teshuvah (looking within) or period of reckoning observed by devout Jews, Teshuvah takes place in September 1939. It is a story of life, love and survival for three disparate people who meet fatefully during the German blitzkrieg: a fiery Polish countess, Klara Sobieksa; a conscientious Jewish tailor, Shlomo Zontag; and an inexperienced young German captain, Erich von Tempelhoff. During the invasion, Klara is held prisoner in her own manor home as bait for her missing husband Krystian, a leader of the Polish resistance. Here she discovers that Shlomo evaded incarceration by the invading Nazis and is hiding and starving in her closet. In the weeks that follow, Klara sustains the hidden Shlomo while Erich questions, bullies and falls in love with her. Finding herself drawn to a man whose ideology repulses her, Klara agrees to give herself to Erich if he will give safe passage to Shlomo, his wife Perl and their two daughters. The revelations that ensue not only bring Shlomo and Klara understanding they had not foreseen, but also propel Klara, Shlomo and Erich to their unexpected fates.

Author/composer/lyricist, Clyde Derrick and Director Wendy Gough collaborated to create a stirring combination of original and traditional music that weaves the production together transporting the audience to 1939 Poland.