Here There are Blueberries – Seattle Rep

I really enjoyed this show. It was so powerful, generating big questions about humanity, morality, and life. I’m still thinking about it a day later and will continue to mull it over for days. At any other time, Here There Are Blueberries would be a deep dive into distant events. But it’s impossible to attend this show and not make connections to current world events.

Going in, I only knew this play was based on real people events involving a museum archivist. And I wondered how on earth a story about museum research was made into a play. Research just isn’t interesting to watch.  But I love history, and I was highly intrigued.

This show was not Indiana Jones. That’s a different type of story. Here There Are Blueberries  was an absolutely fascinating, educational, and disturbing documentary type play that uses actual photos and recreates conversations from present day researchers as they investigate the past. This is not a play to see for deep performances (although they were good), a character study, sets, music, or effects. This is a history lesson told through creative story.  If you love history, especially WW2 history, and have an interest in current events, this is a show you want to watch.

The main character is Dr. Rebecca Erberlding, an archivist at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. In 2006, Rebecca is contacted by a mysterious, retired US military officer with an album of photographs from Auschwitz. Rebecca is initially dubious, as there are very few actual Auschwitz photos from the war. But not only are these photos actually from Auschwitz, they are completely unexpected snapshots of Nazi command.

What follows is a fascinating journey as Rebecca and her colleagues grapple with how to handle these historic photographs. How do they fit with the museum’s mission? How do they verify and honor history without platforming criminals or enabling holocaust deniers? Should they even be displayed? Descendants of people in the photos are burdened with questions about their parents and grandparents, people long gone, about their presence at Auschwitz.

The actual photos from the album are displayed throughout the show. One of the photos is of a group of young women, teenagers really, laughing and eating blueberries with an SS officer.  So innocuous. Researchers wondered, descendants wondered, “What did they know, and when did they know it?”

This play, and the questions it raises, will stay with you long after its over. You can see it at the rep until February 15.