(Click on the poster for a high res version)

Under a Banner of Shadow
Written and directed by Todd Ristau
Additional direction by Clinton Johnston
Performed April 27 through May 2, 2010 .

Todd Ristau performs the all the roles in this production

In addition to Adolf Hiltler, the following characters appear:
Eva Braun.....mistress and wife to Hitler
Councilor Wagner.....the man who married them
Alois Hitler.....Adolf's father
Kubizek.....Adolf's friend
General Rommel.....the Desert Fox
Ernst Roehm.....leader of the SA Stormtroopers
Geli Raubal.....Hitler's niece and lover

Technical Director: Jason "Blue" Herbert
Scenic Design: Todd Ristau and Jason "Blue" Herbert
Lighting and Sound Design: Jason "Blue" Herbert
Dramaturg: Maryke Barber
Stage Manager: Chad Runyon
Box Office Manager: Shay Mullins
Front of House Volunteers: Michelle Bennett, Nancy Maurelli, Adam Ensling, Rachel Linkous, and Martha Cousins

Special Thanks to our Corporate Sponsors: Playwright's Lab at Hollins University, Roanoke Times/Roanoke.com, City Magazine, and New City Media

Special Thanks to those who loaned us props, costumes, or other material support: John Forsman, Ernie Zulia, Hollins University Theatre Department, JD Ruelle, Kenley Smith, Der Stahladler Reproduction Uniforms, Trasco Reproduction and Supply Corp., Studio Roanoke’s Board of Directors and all our Volunteers.

About the Play
Not long before Adolf Hitler's suicide (65 years ago this month), he dictated his political testament. That action creates the spine of this one-person play, becoming an erratically connected series of fever dream flashbacks which reveal the twisted relationship between truth and deception in the mind of the most hated man in history.

The initial production received an invitation to perform at the prestigious Assembly Rooms as part of the 1991 Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it was called "brilliantly repellant" and "all too accurate" by the reviewer for the Scotsman. Peggy Houston, director of Iowa Elderhostel called it; "...deeply moving, extremely accurate, and vitally important in educating another generation about the horror of that period."

About the Playwright, Director, and performer
Todd Ristau is a distinguished graduate of the Iowa Playwright’s Workshop. He serves as Artistic Director of Studio Roanoke and also Program Director for the Playwright’s Lab at Hollins University, a unique graduate program in playwriting. Todd’s work has been performed in theatres across the US and England, including London’s West End. He founded No Shame Theatre in 1986 and oversaw its evolution into a national network of venues for new works in dozens of cities. He worked for four years with Mill Mountain Theatre as Literary Associate and oversaw its Underground Roanoke alternative programming and the CenterPieces Reading series.  In addition to his expertise in playwriting, Ristau is an accomplished director, designer, and an actor who has performed over 400 roles in academic, professional, and amateur theatres. He is an Active Member of the Dramatists Guild as well as a member of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America.

About the Guest Consulting Director: Clinton Johnston is a playwright, actor, and graduate of the University of Virginia’s MFA Directing Program. This production marks Clinton's first work with Studio Roanoke, and he is very pleased to lend a brief "outside eye" to Todd's great effort. Clinton is a strong admirer and occasional participant of No Shame Theatre and was instrumental in the success of the chapter at Live Arts in Charlottesville. Clinton has written and performed at No Shames around the East Coast, including Mill Mountain Theatre, ShennanArts, and the National Best of No Shame at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. His play, Am I Black Enough, Yet? toured regionally with a premier at Charter Theatre in Washington DC. He currently teaches Theatre at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, and though he lives, writes, and directs in Charlottesville, sadly, it always feels he never has enough time to do any of the three.

Maryke Barber (Resident Dramaturg)
Maryke is Outreach and Arts Librarian at Hollins University, where she also moonlights as theatre adjunct faculty. Previously she worked as Literary Coordinator at Mill Mountain Theatre working on production dramaturgy, the New Play Competition and Norfolk Southern Festival of New Works. She served as dramaturg for Chicago's Next, Organic Touchstone and Circle theaters, along with dramaturgy and literary management internships at the Goodman. BFA (Music Theatre): Shenandoah Conservatory, MFA (Theatre): Virginia Commonwealth University, MS (Information Science): University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Jason "Blue" Herbert (TD and Resident Designer)
Bio

Chad Runyon (Stage Manager/Public Relations and Development Director)
Bio

What is evil, and why is it? After a genocide happens we scour the past, looking for an answer. Sixty-five years after Adolf Hitler paced around in his final retreat, the only thing more surprising than all that we have learned is how many questions still remain. His awful legacy can make him seem larger than life: inhuman and unfathomable.

This play strips away many of the elements of conventional theatre: a realistic setting, an ensemble of actors, a linear, orderly story. What is left is an opportunity for the playwright to explore the facets of his character, without these extras. It's the ultimate exercise in simplification, and in transformation: a fitting treatment for the world's most famous madman. For the actor and for us, the audience, here is the unique experience of such a play: one man leads us through every time, every where and every one. We follow him on a whirlwind tour of events and emotions - right to the heart of the mystery.

• How does the playwright guide us from moment to moment, from character to character?
• How do the other characters enhance your understanding of Hitler? Which character will you remember most, and why?
• Hitler’s anti-Semitism is only one of many fears portrayed – what other things (or people) did Hitler fear, and why?
• In one of his speeches, Hitler describes a trip to the slaughterhouse. Listen closely to this story: how does it reflect on his character and his philosophy of leadership?
• Do you feel that there are things about Hitler’s background or character that you learned from this play? Was there anything that surprised you?