Annette Roman:"My father is a Jewish Holocaust survivor and my mother is a Lutheran Protestant who was in the Hitler Youth. My performance dramatizes my parents' war experiences, their marriage, and my legacy. It's a complex story of the relationship between two people twisted by the forces of history...and the repercussions on the next generation.
"Because Hitler would have considered the product of such a marriage to be an "abomination," I have provocatively entitled my show "Hitler's Li'l Abomination." (Unfortunately, when competing for attention at large fringe festivals it helps to have a title that stands out. Rest assured, my show is serious when it comes to the war and its repercussions. Although when it comes to my eccentric family...laughter usually ensues and is encouraged.)"
I have toured this show at 8 fringe festivals in the U.S., U.K., and Canada to date. The Edmonton Jewish Senior Centre commissioned me to perform my show for them at their centre in 2013. My most recent review from this June (London, Ontario) favorably compares my show to Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus: http://theatreinlondon.ca/2015/06/hitlers-lil-abomination-review/11
HITLER’S LI’L ABOMINATION
WHAT: Her mother was in the Hitler Youth. Her father is a Holocaust survivor. She accidentally dated a White supremacist. What the devil is she…? Spanning three cultures and as many generations, this solo show features the Russian Front, WWII bedtime stories, and undercover bridge games at the senior centre.
WHERE: Venue #2: MTC Up the Alley, 174 Market Ave. (Enter from back alley behind the Manitoba Theater Centre at John Hirsch Place.) Wheelchair accessible.
WHEN: Thu 7/16 @ 5:30, Fri 7/17 @ 10:30 (2 for 1!), Sun 7/19 @ 3:45, Mon 7/20 @ 8:45, Tue 7/21 @ 12 noon, Wed 7/22 1:45, Thu 7/23 @ 7:15, Sat 7/25 @ 12 noon (all PM)
TICKETS: Tickets $10 (matinees/student/senior $8) @ winnipegfringe.com
REVIEWS & HONORS for Hitler’s Li’l Abomination
- Orlando Fringe Festival 2013, Top 7 Pick —Orlando Weekly
- A superbly bittersweet one-woman comedy about family…refuses to be emotionally simplistic….In the same thoughtful nuance as Art Spiegelman's classic sequential art Holocaust narrative Maus. —Theater in London
- Profound and historically engaging. Goes from harrowing to hilarious.—Broadway Baby, Edinburgh Fringe
- Poignant and insightful.—Huffington Post
- Roman offers a fresh perspective on the age-old question “Can we ever really learn from history?” Listen closely for the ghosts of generations’ worth of Tantes and Omas: They’re beckoning “In here, Liebchen! In here!”—Orlando Weekly