My grandparents met in Vienna in the late 1920’s. He was a lawyer, she was a doctor, and together they lived in an apartment on Praterstrasse, where my mother spent her early childhood. My grandparents loved the city, and I grew up hearing of their nights attending the opera and of hours spent in cafes. They told me, too, of their apartment being ransacked by the police, of being forced to hang a swastika from their balcony, of my grandfather (who looked especially Semitic) being brutally attacked on the street. Eventually they fled the home and careers they loved and settled in the U.S., taking jobs as factory workers.

I felt a special resonance with Old Wicked Songs since I first read the play about 10 years ago. The play so beautifully captures a collision of two cultures – Austrian and American – a sometimes humorous struggle I witnessed with my grandparents. The play, too, depicts so profoundly a sense of deep-buried pain. And yet, the play is uplifting, joyful and optimistic. I am honored to direct the Austrian premiere of Old Wicked Songs, and honored that our two theatres – Austrian and American – are joining together in this international co-production.

My grandparents never returned to Austria, even to visit. Until they died, they carried with them a certain amount of anger and fear. In a sense, though, with this production of Old Wicked Songs, they are once again in Vienna. Their wedding photo adorns the set.

Jonathan Fox