THE STORY: HANNAH AND MARTIN is based on the relationship between the Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt and the renowned philosopher Martin Heidegger. In Germany in the 1920s, Heidegger and Arendt have a tumultuous love affair while he is a professor and she is his admiring student. But as the National Socialists come to power, Heidegger uses his fame and brilliance to help further the goals of the party. After the devastation of World War II, Arendt, who has fled to America and become a respected public figure in her own right, returns to Germany and visits Heidegger at the home he shares with his wife. There she struggles to come to terms with his involvement with the Nazis and to understand what he still means to her.
“[HANNAH AND MARTIN] marks the emergence of an important new voice in American theater: Kate Fodor. If this first play is any indication, Fodor will eventually take her place alongside some of this country’s best dramatists…[The play] challenges, entertains, enlightens. It is a nearly flawless theatrical experience.” —Windy City Times.
“…stunningly written and sharply lacerating…[a] soul-stirring, argumentative, deeply questioning drama…” —Chicago Sun-Times.
“…[a] smart and shapely debut work…an impressive accomplishment—and something of a gift for audiences who would rather leave the theater thinking long thoughts than scratching their bellies.” —Variety.
