THE STORY

Way to Heaven (Himmelweg) is inspired by the true story of the elaborate deception that took place at the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where the Nazis constructed a fake village to fool international inspectors and quell extermination rumors. Juan Mayorga’s startlingly original play begins years after the fact with an account by the Red Cross employee who was there, then leaps backward in time to show the creation and rehearsal of another very unusual play, one in which the Jewish prisoners are assigned roles and given lines to say to inspectors passing by. The play within a play is written by one of the most ironic figures ever to appear on a stage – a witty, cultured, humanistic Nazi Commandant – and the Jewish prisoner selected to play the Mayor; this “play” will ultimately serve its purpose and the inspector will return with a positive review.

What of all the rumors about walking skeletons in striped pajamas?  All false, the inspector reasoned. He could see the truth with his own eyes. Or could he?

Perception, the power of images, rhetoric and Theater itself are among Mayorga’s themes, and also, perhaps most significantly, the play asks, how much courage is required to take responsibility for what one sees.