Brandon Flynn, Michael Cerveris and Conrad Ricamora Face History in Broadway's Here There Are Blueberries

A mysterious photo album opens a window into history and turns a mirror on the present in Here There Are Blueberries. Created and directed by Moisés Kaufman and co-written with Amanda Gronich, the Pulitzer Prize finalist follows a real-life investigation into photographs depicting perpetrators of the Holocaust. As the play comes to Broadway, its creators and cast discuss uncovering the truth and asking audiences to consider their own place in the picture.

For Kaufman, the photographs’ focus offered a startling entry point. “It's a detective story. It's about this archivist at the United States Holocaust Museum who receives this mysterious album, and she begins to figure out what it means,” he says. “It's photographs of the perpetrators, not photographs of the victims.” Kaufman first encountered the images on the front page of The New York Times. “Seeing these Nazi officers lighting a Christmas tree, playing with their pets, eating blueberries—while outside of the frame, they're killing 1.1 million people—was something very shocking and very interesting,” he says. “That led me to want to write the play.”

When Kaufman brought the idea to Gronich, she initially questioned whether the material could work as theater. The breakthrough came in considering the photographs through a contemporary lens. “I took a breath and thought, if we could find a way to theatrically explore the selfies of an SS officer, if we can have audiences step inside those pictures as a theatrical event, what an unforgettable experience,” she recalls.

Brandon Flynn, who makes his Broadway debut as Rainer Höss and others, found his way into the story through the people investigating it. “The first thing that blew me away was the relationship with the archivists to this historical artifact that gets donated to the National Holocaust Museum," he says, "the sanctity and importance of their work and how history gets framed with the help of museums and these really important researchers who value truth and facts and history.”

The company brings off-Broadway cast members Scott Barrow and Kathleen Chalfant together with actors newly discovering the play. Two-time Tony winner Michael Cerveris, who plays Peter Wirths and others, is happy to be welcomed in. “It's been an inspiration watching the members of the company who built the piece and are just as happy to see new people come in and succeed as they would've been to be in those places themselves,” he says. “It's sincerely the best of what theater is and the best of what people are.”

Tony nominee Conrad Ricamora, who plays Tilman Taube and others, is also new to the production. He appreciates that the work "pushes audience members to believe that Broadway can do more than entertain. It can entertain and inform and be soul stirring at the same time,” he says. “There's room for shows that ask the audience member to sit with really heavy questions as well as be entertained. I think that's so important.”

Hear more from the cast in the video below!

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