When I was first informed that the world premiere of Open Fist Theatre Company‘s The Bauhaus Project would consist of two parts that would total a span of almost four hours, ambitious was the first word I had in mind, particularly for a 99-seat theatre company.

After watching both parts on two different days, the conclusion is that within this immensely dense two-part play, there lies one singular thought-provoking play once it sheds its meta nature and fully embrace the story of the Bauhaus Project and its extraordinary people that existed in real life.

Open Fist Theatre Company premieres The Bauhaus Project by Tom Jacobson, a world premiere theatrical event presented in two binge-worthy parts (Part 1: Bauhaus Weimer and Part 2: Bauhaus Dessau and Bauhaus Berlin) highlighting the rise of fascism and anti-Semitism in Germany and its effect on the arts. In this provocative play-within-a-play, five Southern California art students re-enact the history of the famous Bauhaus School, using their respective disciplines of environmental design, music, fine art, graphic design and theater to recreate the dramatic history in real time. Each of the students portrays multiple historic Bauhaus figures, many of whom later fled to the U.S. or died in concentration camps, including architect and Bauhaus founding director Walter Gropius and his successors, architects Hannes Meyer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; painters Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Oskar Schlemmer and Lyonel Feininger; textile artists Gunta Stolzl, Maria Kipp and Otti Berger; furniture designer Marcel Breuer; photographer Laszlo Moholy–Nagy; graphic designer Herbert Bayer; composers Arnold Schönberg and Alma Mahler; and architects Ludwig Hilberseimer and Fritz Ertl — the latter of whom would go on to design buildings at Auschwitz. Part I, which focuses on the school’s founding and early years in the city of Weimar, while Part 2, which looks at the school’s moves, first to Dessau, then to Berlin, in the face of increasing Nazi scrutiny.

At the very core of it, playwright Tom Jacobson wrote a striking tale of the rise of fascism that took place in early 20th century Germany that speaks very much to our current troubled times. And whether intentional or not, The Bauhaus Project also unwittingly conjures up in how antisemitism is a collective struggle that equally binds both the Jewish and Palestinian people as all oppression are connected together and interwoven through space and time. I will go into this part much later on this review.

But just judging from the long explanation of the play itself above, The Bauhaus Project is incredibly intellectual as it is dense and the play’s biggest drawback is sifting through its daunting two parts filled with historical information, characters (so many characters), and the distracting switch back and forth between the story of of the Southern California art students and the real-life Bauhaus people they portray. I commend the ensemble cast for juggling through all of that, especially with three of their actors fresh out of CalArts, but there were many instances where I could see the struggle of carrying all that weight. I was at first particularly distracted by Sang Kim’s portrayal of the student Duck Liu as the character almost bordered way too close on being a Sixteen Candles Long Duk Dong stereotype, especially with Duck as the name. The character’s country of origin was also distracting as in Part I, he continuously alludes to his home country of China and its censorship issues but the very heavy and very noticeable Korean accent that Sang Kim had for the character often collided with that information given repeatedly.

Despite the thin veil of stereotypes that the character Duck Liu possesses, Sang Kim makes the most of it with his comedic timing and like the rest of his ensemble cast, becomes much more convincing when they inhabit their main Bauhaus character roles. As the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, Kim is an absolute delight. This same praise & criticism applies to the rest of the ensemble cast once the play finally settles in halfway through Part II.

Chloe Madriaga commanded such respect and presence with her portrayal of Bauhaus Master Gunta Stölzl. As the only female Master that served at the Bauhaus institute, Madriaga effectively turns the dense play material into something so much more as she becomes the heart of the show. We follow with much interest in the story of Gunta Stölzl in trying to keep the institute and the principle of free expression alive the very best that she could.

Along with Jack Goldwait‘s chilling Nazi critic Paul Schultze-Naumberg, Katarina Joy Lopez‘s sweet portrayal of Jewish Croatian student and later teacher at the Bauhaus Otti Berger, and John C. Sweet‘s effervescent painter & choreographer Oskar Schlemmer, these were the strongest characters that the ensemble cast put so much heart into and while it was commendable to see them play so many other characters, the story became much more focused and connected once we settled into these central figures as we also shed the need to talk to the audience and deliver historical information.

Once I watched Part II, I could not help but imagine a Hamilton-esque scenario where the play focused solely on these historical white characters but played mostly by actors of global majority. This came into mind as the majority of the ensemble cast were global majority and though it was admirable to see them juggle so many characters and scenarios, The Bauhaus Project did not settle in until well after Part II got underway. That being said, I applaud director Martha Demson for pulling through with the difficult material. While I wished the entirety of the play ended with the Bauhaus characters and not back to the art students where they delivered the cute but distracting closing info that the furniture brand IKEA carried on with the Bauhaus ideals, my biggest note is that a lot of the material could be shaved off in favor of a more tightly focused story. Still, I won’t knock the creative team for trying.

I will end this review on the thoughtful note that I brought up at the top of this review and that is that all struggle is interconnected. When one particular Nazi character in the play brought up the need to streamline all inconsistencies and foreign elements, they also revealed their orientalist and antisemitic thoughts about the Palestinian people and how they likened them to the Jewish people, and that both need to be handled accordingly. Antisemitism affects both Jewish and Arabic people equally (because Semites apply to both, lest one forget) and that is particularly the case in our current times when it becomes a bit ironic that current Germany is censoring Palestinian identity and expression in the academics & arts like what they did with the Jewish identity in the Bauhaus.

I bring this up because while the mainstream western media would like to convince the world that the Jewish and Palestinian identity are at forever odds with each other, I think it’s actually the same. Similar to how Kandinsky and Berger bond over the fact that there are so many similarities with the Christian and Jewish identity, I believe in that same commonality for both the Jewish and Palestinian identity. That together there will be there collective liberation and ultimately, that the greatest threat is the threat of fascism that doesn’t just come from any particular party but the overriding thought process that there can only be one. This may be the lasting thought The Bauhaus Project left with and though I can criticize so many things about this play, I so very much appreciate when plays make me think of the world we live in now and how we can better ourselves for it. That’s something at least.

WHO:
• Written by Tom Jacobson
• Directed by Martha Demson
• Starring Jack Goldwait, Sang Kim, Katarina Joy Lopez, Chloe Madriaga, John C. Sweet
• Presented by Open Fist Theatre Company, Martha Demson, artistic director

WHEN:
Previews: July 12, July 13, July 14
Performances: July 19 through August 25
• Fridays at 8 p.m.  Part 1 (Bauhaus Weimar): July 12 (preview), July 19 (opening night), July 26, Aug. 2, Aug. 9, Aug. 16, Aug. 23
• Saturdays at 4 p.m.: Part 1 (Bauhaus Weimar): July 13 (preview), July 20, July 27, Aug. 3, Aug. 10, Aug. 17, Aug. 24
• Saturdays at 8 p.m.: Part 2 (Bauhaus Dessau & Bauhaus Berlin): July 13 (preview), July 20 (opening night), July 27, Aug. 3, Aug. 10, Aug. 17, Aug. 24
• Sundays at 4 p.m.: Part 2 (Bauhaus Dessau & Bauhaus Berlin) July 14 (preview), July 21, July 28, Aug. 4, Aug. 11, Aug. 18, Aug. 25
* Audience members can choose to view the entire Bauhaus Project over the course of two evenings (any Friday and any Saturday at 8 p.m.); two matinees (any Saturday and any Sunday at 4 p.m.); or on a single Saturday, at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. (The history is sequential, so it is not advised to view the parts out of order.)

WHERE:
Atwater Village Theatre
3269 Casitas Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039
• FREE parking in the ATX (Atwater Crossing) lot one block south of the theater.

TICKETS:
• Part 1 and Part 2 (combination ticket): $50
• Part 1 or Part 2 (individual ticket): $35
• Students receive $5 off either price
• Previews: Pay What You Can

HOW:
www.openfist.org
(323) 882-6912