(PRINCETON, NJ) -- McCarter Theatre Center proudly launches the National Tour of Here There Are Blueberries, the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist play from Tectonic Theater Project by Tony and Emmy nominee Moisés Kaufman and Emmy nominee Amanda Gronich. The production runs January 24 through February 9, 2025.
The play is focused on a mysterious album featuring Nazi-era photographs that arrive at the desk of a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum archivist in 2007. As curators unraveled the shocking truth behind the images, the album soon made headlines and set off a debate that reverberated far beyond the museum walls. Based on actual events, the play tells the story of these historical photographs, and what they reveal about the perpetrators of the Holocaust, and our own humanity.
“The work of Tectonic Theater Project is like no other company,” says McCarter Artistic Director Sarah Rasmussen. “Many of us were first captivated by their work on The Laramie Project and have continued to be inspired by and immersed in their unique blend of documentary research and theatrical storytelling. With Here There Are Blueberries they have created another deeply human, thought-provoking, and engrossing masterwork.”
The cast of Here There Are Blueberries includes Scott Barrow as Karl Höcker, Barbara Pitts as Judy Cohen, Grant Varjas as Peter Wirths, Nemuna Ceesay as Charlotte Schüzel, Delia Cunningham as Rebecca Erbelding, Luke Forbes as Tilman Taube, Jeanne Sakata as Melita Maschmann (u/s Judy Cohen), and Marrick Smith as Rainer Höss. Each actor plays a principal role as well as multiple additional characters, with Sam Reeder and Anna Shafer serving as understudies.
Here There Are Blueberries runs from January 24 – February 9, 2025. Tickets are available for purchase online or by calling the box office at 609-258-2787. McCarter Theatre is located at 91 University Place in Princeton, New Jersey.
Conversations, featuring prominent scholars, diplomats, and community leaders curated by The Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE), follow the matinees on January 26, February 1, February 2, and Feb. 8. The series is part of McCarter’s Arts & Ideas, which links Princeton University and community partners to the work on stage, and is co-sponsored by the Princeton University Humanities Council.
The design team of Here There Are Blueberries features scenic design by Tony Award-winner Derek McLane, costume design by Tony Award-winner Dede Ayite, lighting design by Tony Award nominee David Lander, sound design by Bobby McElver, and projection design by Tony Award nominee David Bengali. Ann James serves as Intimacy Coordinator & Sensitivity Specialist, with Amy Marie Seidel as Associate Director, Dramaturg, and Deviser. Casting is by Stephanie Yankwitt, TBD Casting.
Photo by Matthew Murphy
The world premiere of Here There Are Blueberries was produced in 2022 by La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla, California where it was named one of the Best Plays of 2022 by the Los Angeles Times. The play was awarded the Theater J Trish Vradenburg Jewish Play Prize and was nominated for seven Helen Hayes Awards, winning two for Outstanding Director of a Play (Moisés Kaufman) and Outstanding Media/Projection Design (David Bengali) for its 2023 production at Shakespeare Theatre Company. At New York Theatre Workshop, Here There Are Blueberries was named a 2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, the focus of a top-rated CBS “60 Minutes” piece by Anderson Cooper, and became their highest-grossing production in the 45 year history of the institution. Here There Are Blueberries is produced by Tectonic Theater Project, Brian & Dayna Lee, and Sonia Friedman Productions.
Tony- and Emmy-nominated director and playwright, and recipient of the National Medal of Arts from President Obama, Moisés Kaufman has led Tectonic Theater Project since its founding in 1991. Broadway credits include Paradise Square (10 Tony Award nominations), the revival of Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song, Rajiv Joseph’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams, the revival of The Heiress starring Jessica Chastain, 33 Variations with Jane Fonda (Tony Award nomination for Best Play), and Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife (Obie Award and Tony, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award nominations). Other productions include: Velour: A Drag Spectacular, Las Aventuras de Juan Planchard, Seven Deadly Sins (Drama Desk Award). He is the co-writer of The Laramie Project and writer of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. He is an Obie and Drama Desk award winner and a Guggenheim fellow.
An Emmy-nominated, Pulitzer Prize finalist, Amanda Gronich became a lead series writer for National Geographic Television and Supervising Senior Writer at Hoff Productions, creating top-rated show for networks including Discovery, WeTV, Animal Planet, TLC and Science Channel. With Tectonic Theater Project, Gronich directed the Toronto production of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and was a co-creator of The Laramie Project. A book about her story devising methods will be released by SIU Press.
Photo by Matthew Murphy
Based in New York City and led by artistic director Moisés Kaufman and executive director Matt Joslyn, Tectonic Theater Project develops new plays using the company’s trademarked theater-making method, Moment Work, and through a rigorous process of research and collaboration in a laboratory environment. Since its founding in 1991 the company has created and staged over twenty plays and musicals, including Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, The Laramie Project, Doug Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, the Tony Award-winning 33 Variations, and the Drama Desk Award-winning Seven Deadly Sins. In addition to Here There Are Blueberries, Tectonic Theater Project’s newest world-premiere plays Las Aventuras de Juan Planchard written and directed by Moisés Kaufman based on Jonathan Jakubowicz’s best-selling book which made its world premiere in a co-production with Miami New Drama this past fall and Velour: A Drag Spectacular written by Sasha Velour and Moisés Kaufman made its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in August 2024.
McCarter is one of the country’s flagship theaters and a vibrant center for community and the performing arts. Located on the campus of Princeton University, the company is an independent nonprofit, serving as a nationally renowned, multi-disciplinary creative hub for arts and ideas, offering theatre, music, dance, spoken word, and educational programs for all ages. A two-time Tony Award winner, McCarter’s legacy of artistic excellence dates back to the theatre’s first performances in 1930. Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, Kaufmann & Hart’s You Can’t Take It with You, and William Inge’s Bus Stop all had their premieres on the McCarter stage, paving the way for a long history of collaborations with playwrights to launch remarkable works that have gone on to tens of thousands of performances, reaching millions of audience members around the world.
The company is equally revered for presenting global artists on its stages, including Alvin Ailey, Yo-Yo Ma, Samara Joy, Hasan Minhaj, Jon Stewart, Caetano Veloso, Rhiannon Giddens, Patti Smith, Esperanza Spalding, Lake Street Dive, and Herbie Hancock, among many others. Of the 100,000 community members who directly participate in the company’s work every year, more than 5,000 are students taking part in McCarter’s robust educational offerings in Princeton, Trenton, and schools throughout the region. McCarter leads with values of “justice and joy, and beauty in belonging,” creating stories and experiences that enliven minds, expand imaginations, and engage communities.
