by Michelle Kholos Brooks

The Underground Off-Broadway Hit comes to RVA!

Oct 17 - Nov 2 at Virginia Rep’s Theatre Gym

Three times a day, every day, a group of young women have the opportunity to die for their country. They are Adolf Hitler’s food tasters. H*tler’s Tasters is a fictional retelling of a largely unknown story of the young German women conscripted to taste Adolf Hitler’s food for poison. This dark comedy explores the way girls navigate sexuality, friendship, patriotism, and poison during the Third Reich. Using an anachronistic retelling of a historical footnote, H*tler’s Tasters considers what girls discuss as they wait to see if they will survive another meal.

Performances are in Partnership with Virginia Rep located at 114 W Broad St Richmond, VA 23220

- Virgina Rep Website -

Cast

Hilda - Rebecka Russo

Liesel - Preston Bradsher

Anna - Eva Linder

Margot - Kylee Márquez-Downie 

Understudies

Hilda/Margot - Tory Davidson

Liesel/Anna - Emma Rivet

Creative Team

Director - Kaitlin Paige Longoria

Choreographer - Kayla Xavier

Fight Choreographer - Marr Hovastak

Lighting Designer - Gretta Daughtrey

Sound Designer - Candace Hudert

5th Wall Costume Designer - Maggie Ronck

NLTP Costume Designer - Ashleigh Poteat 

Set Designer - Kaitlin Paige Longoria

Production Associate - Emily Adler

Production Stage Manager - Tariq Karriem

Content Warning: This production contains depictions of Nazi symbols, strobe lights, mature themes, potentially sensitive or controversial content and imagery, including discussions of sexual assault, politics, war, and race. Viewer discretion is advised.

“Inventive. Challenging. Funny. Touching piece of theater - See it!!!”

-@twizzledsass

“Longoria... directs with a sense of energy and inevitability that is urgent, and manages to somehow suggest that hope never dies.”

-Julinda D. Lewis

“Can’t stop thinking about this show and its sobering themes and artful presentation. Needs to be seen.”

-Stephen Ryan

“...explores urgently relatable themes with unpredictable creative gusto..”

-Stephen Ryan

Photos taken by Ivy and Lace Photography

H*tler’s Tasters has captivated audiences worldwide with bold storytelling and dark humor, exploring the lives of young women forced to taste Hitler’s food for poison. Following a SOLD-OUT 2019 run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was named among the Best of EdFringe, and earning a Time Out Critic’s Pick Off-Broadway, the play now makes its Richmond debut. Directed by original cast member and producer Kaitlin Paige Longoria, it’s hailed as “one of the best evenings” in theater (Susan Stroman) and “unbelievably relevant” (Spy in the Stalls).

Note from the Playwright

THE H-WORD

I understand that some people are triggered by the name, Hitler. I am too. However, as a Jewish woman, I am more terrified by what I’m currently seeing in the world around me than I am by a name—albeit the worst name.

H*tler’s Tasters is a play about many things but, most importantly, it is a play about the dangers of complacency.


The girls in H*tler’s Tasters are the girls whose families didn’t resist the tide of tyranny. They didn’t catch the signs, or, worse, they accepted the “inevitable” and looked the other way when the “others” lost their homes, their businesses, and their lives. What they failed to realize is that madmen first come for the “other,” but when there is no one left, he turns on his own. Hitler was willing to sacrifice young, German women; the future of the Reich, the potential bearer of German sons, to taste his food for poison. The tyrant is insatiable and, because power makes him even more paranoid, there is no amount of privilege—be it race, economic, social, or even family status that protects us when the tyrant turns his gaze in our direction.

Right this very minute, bad actors in government are working to undermine our country. They are once again trying to control the ability for women to have autonomy over their bodies. They are surgically and deftly slicing away at our democracy with tiny, barely noticeable cuts. However, as with the Nazi’s, these small fissures, paired with outrageous lies about immigrants, Blacks, Asians, Jews, the LGBTQ2+ community, Hispanics, Muslims, or any number of “others” are conspiring to create a chasm into which we’re all in danger of falling. It is devastating to think that our children’s children could look back and wonder why we didn’t pay attention when the signs were so glaring.

H*tler’s Tasters is also very much about the treatment of young women—the way society exploits and then discards them is a story as old as time. It’s disproportionately true for poor women and women of color, but there is not a woman in the world who has not felt the fear brought on by an unhinged male with power—be that at work or walking down the street. In H*tler’s Tasters we see the way young women, raised with Hitler as their father figure, have been indoctrinated. We have the heartbreaking experience of watching them submit to their fate.

We have true dictators and a number of aspiring dictators in our midst right now. We watch their lies, manipulation, and destruction in real time. We see their supporters believe they can trust these bombastic male figures to do what is right when most of us know that they are only interested in their power. These are dangerous times.

For all these reasons, H*tler’s Tasters feels more relevant today than when I conceived of it a few years ago. I wish it wasn’t. I wish I had written a story that was trapped in the amber of history. But the young women of H*tler’s Tasters are powerful reminders of what can happen when a society indulges in complacency and fails to notice that what affects some of us, eventually affects all of us.

Thank you for getting past the H-word and experiencing this play for yourself. I think you will see why so many Jewish publications, organizations, and even Holocaust survivors have supported this play. I promise it is so much more than the name of a tyrant.

Yours in peace and solidarity,


Michelle Kholos Brooks

Based on the True Story of Margot Wölk

H*tler's Tasters by Michelle Kholos Brooks is inspired by the real-life story of Margot Wölk, a German woman who was one of 15 young women forced to serve as food tasters for Adolf Hitler during World War II. Margot, recruited at age 24, spent two and a half years in this perilous role at Hitler’s secret military headquarters, the Wolf’s Lair. After the war, Wölk remained silent about her experience for decades, only sharing her story in the last years of her life. Her testimony reveals the deep fear and emotional trauma these women endured as they tasted Hitler’s food, never knowing if each bite would be their last.

The play captures the tension, fear, and uncertainty that defined their lives, while also exploring the psychological impact of their unique—and dangerous—position in history. Through contemporary dialogue and interactions, H*tler’s Tasters sheds light on themes of survival, complicity, and the haunting effects of war.

Saw the show and enjoyed the music?

Most of the music used for the show are local richmond artists! Check out the soundtrack list below.

1. Opening Number - “Von Dutch” by Charli XCX

2. Table Ritual #1, #2 & #3 - “Fear Not Creation” by Lobo Marino (LOCAL RVA ARTIST)

3. “Nobody’s Baby” by Toxic Moxie (LOCAL RVA ARTIST)

4. “Oversoon” by (Eli)zabeth Owens (LOCAL RVA ARTIST)

5. “S&M by Rihanna

6. “Safe” by Dear (LOCAL RVA ARTIST)

7. “Family Annihilator” by Dorthia Cottrell (LOCAL RVA ARTIST)