This is the true story of the playwright's family who were caught in the unfortunate events happening in Germany starting in 1938. It's a story told through actors reading the actual letters with which the family used to communicate as they became geographically separated trying to escape Hitler's wrath.

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Eventually, the family is spread across three different countries, Germany, Bolivia, and the United States, all the while frantically trying to find a way to be together again, expressing their quests and frustrations through the letters.

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I was particularly drawn to how informal their written letters to each other were. There were moments where it was just as though they could be sitting comfortably across the dinner table from one another holding casual conversations; like the family had never really been forced to break away from each other. With this idea in mind, I wanted it to seem that while perhaps they were separated in reality, that they were still sitting at the table together and conversing.

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All locations are represented in the scenery simultaneously. In one corner, two battered chairs that perhaps were once nice make up Germany. In another corner, two wooden, uncomfortable looking chairs and a plain wooden stool make up Bolivia. Across from Bolivia is the United States with a plush and cozy-looking wing back chair and freshly cut flowers. In the final corner is a single wooden bench that is the concentration camp Buchenwald. 

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In the center is the family's dining table, dressed in neutral blacks and grays, that represents what is holding them together.

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Finally, on the outskirts if two corners, there are a total of four flats painted to mimic spilled ink and blood.