Photo of Jack Doherty, Brandon Ruiter, HB Ward, Kate Collins, Ellie Duffey, Elizabeth Laidlaw, Molly Hernández, Terry Bell, Raven Whitley, and Mo Shipley by Michael Brosilow.
Get to know the characters of Berlin and read a detailed synopsis of the play.
Characters
Marthe Müller: An art student from Cologne; daughter of a WWI major (played by Raven Whitley)
Kurt Severing: A journalist (played by Tim Decker)
Silvia Braun/Ensemble: The teenage daughter of Gudrun and Otto Braun (Ellie Duffey)
Gudrun Braun/Adolf Hitler/Ensemble: Wife of Otto Braun and mother of Sylvia/the leader of the Nazi party and future dictator of Germany (played by Elizabeth Laidlaw)
Kid Hogan/Ensemble: A Black American jazz musician (played by Terry Bell)
Margarethe von Falkensee/Ensemble: A wealthy heiress who is angry about Germany’s defeat in WWI (played by Kate Collins)
Anna Lenke/Ensemble: A queer artist who loves falling in love (played by Mo Shipley)
David Schwartz/Ensemble: A Jewish teenager who sells leftist newspapers (played by Jack Doherty)
Otto Schmidt/Ensemble: A lonely communist (played by Guy Van Swearingen)
Otto Braun/Ensemble: The angry and unemployed husband of Gudrun and father of Silvia (played by HB Ward)
Pola Mosse/Ensemble: An artist, model, and singer (played by Molly Hernández)
Theo Müller/Ensemble: Marthe’s cousin and first love who died in WWI (played by Brandon Ruiter)
Synopsis
The play is based on the graphic novel by Jason Lutes. Rather than being broken into distinct scenes, it is a mosaic of intersecting narratives. The characters’ stories, dreams, tragedies, and fears spiral and stretch over the course of four years in an increasingly volatile city.
In the opening sequence, we meet the cast of characters as they introduce themselves and interact with one another in the hubbub of Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz. Marthe Müller, the daughter of a WWI general, arrives in Berlin to attend art school. Her cousin Theo, killed in the first World War, wanders the city. Marthe meets reporter Kurt Severing and queer art student Anna Lenke, forming fast attachments to each. Wealthy heiress Margarethe von Falkensee laments Germany’s outcome in the first World War. Gudrun Braun and her husband Otto Braun grapple with unemployment and love tested by divergent political ideals. Their teen daughter Sylvia is caught in the crossfire. David Schwartz, a teenager selling papers for the local communist party without his parents’ permission, chats with communist organizer Otto Schmidt. American musician Kid Hogan falls for singer and model Pola Mosse.
Marthe leaves art school, hates her new job, and promptly quits. She has a romantic reunion with Kurt, who begins to support her financially. The city celebrates the New Year: 1929. Anna fights with her family over gender expectations. In a flashback to 1918, Margarethe muses on the shame of Germany’s loss in WWI with a younger Kurt. We learn that they used to be involved. Back in 1929, Gudrun and Sylvia have left Otto Braun. Otto Schmidt encourages Gudrun to engage with communism, and promises to help her find work. Anna feels a brutal jealousy that Marthe is dating Kurt. Otto Braun has joined the Nazi party, Anna works to make Marthe jealous, and Marthe and Kurt spend days in bed together. Pola and Kid Hogan fall in love.
The Communist Party organizes a march for May Day. Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propagandist, speaks, galvanizing the Nazi Party. Several of the characters say they slept through this political shift. The marching communists are attacked by the police. Gudrun is shot and killed.
Hitler has a picnic and asks Marthe to draw him. Kurt relates the hearings that followed the May Day massacre. Meanwhile, Kurt’s editor Carl is being charged with treason. Sylvia confronts Otto Schmidt for his role in her mother’s death, but he says it is really the Nazi police who are responsible. Sylvia is now living on the street. David’s father discovers that he is selling communist papers. He is furious and afraid, and tells David that they must make themselves invisible in order to stay safe. Marthe, Kurt, and Margarethe go clubbing. Kurt yells at Marthe about the records she has brought into his home, and she leaves him. Sylvia and David meet, and she realizes that Jewish people are not the villains that the Nazis have portrayed.
Anna invites Marthe out, and they dress as “Mr. and Mrs. Wilson” from New York City. Anna and Marthe have sex. Kurt goes with his editor Carl to his trial; Carl loses. Margarethe and Kurt fight. Marthe’s family wants her to leave Berlin; Pola wants to leave Germany, but Kid Hogan does not.
Sylvia and David are attacked by the Nazis, but they successfully fight back. David brings Sylvia home and gives her an alias as a Jewish girl. Kid Hogan and Pola are attacked by Nazis. Otto Braun stabs Otto Schmidt.
In 1931, the violence on the streets of Berlin is escalating. Sylvia wants to fight. Anna and Marthe and other queer people are arrested for being queer by the Shupo, the Nazi police. Anna is assaulted by the officers and struggles to emotionally recover from the experience. Marthe leaves to go to Kurt’s house, where they sleep together. Kurt considers joining the Communist Party. Anna and Marthe fight. David and Sylvia share an intimate moment, after which Sylvia leaves to go fight. She meets up with Otto Schmidt, who dies from his earlier wounds.
The characters share their fears, plans, and reluctance to leave Berlin—or, in Margarethe’s case, stay to support Hitler. As Sylvia takes decisive anti-Nazi action, Marthe decides to return home. David and his dad are also escaping; Sylvia stays to fight. Pola and Kid board a plane. At the end of the play, each character reveals how and when they will die.
Berlin takes place in Berlin, Germany between 1928 and 1932.
A Note For Teachers Please note that this show includes adult content and themes, including strong language, gun violence, homophobic slurs, simulated sex acts, a depiction of suicide, sexual assault by law enforcement, and drug use.
It might be helpful to put the cast of characters first–before the Synopsis. Especially as the play’s structure with its many characters and time-shifts is often more kaleidoscopic than narrative. Also in the synopsis, given that there are 2 Ottos, it would help to always include their last names.
It might be helpful to put the cast of characters first–before the Synopsis. Especially as the play’s structure with its many characters and time-shifts is often more kaleidoscopic than narrative. Also in the synopsis, given that there are 2 Ottos, it would help to always include their last names.
Thanks so much for these suggestions! We really appreciate your input and your feedback on how to improve our learning materials.