Beauty Freak, About Nazi Propagandist Leni Riefenstahl, Will Have World Premiere

What Will the Neighbors Say?, an investigative theater company that provokes questions through untold stories, and Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre will present the world premiere of Beauty Freak, a new play by James Clements. Directed by Danilo Gambini, the play runs April 24–May 17, with an opening night set for April 30, at the cell theatre.

Exploring the meteoric rise of filmmaker and Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl, Beauty Freak centers on Riefenstahl during the creation and promotion of her magnum opus “Olympia,” a film about the 1936 Berlin Olympics commissioned by the Third Reich. As the regime that supports her artistic vision escalates its campaign of terror and commits increasingly flagrant atrocities, Riefenstahl and her colleagues are forced to reckon with their own complicity and responsibilities as artists.

The cast features Baize Buzan as Leni Riefenstahl, Sam Hood Adrain as Werner Klingenberg, James Clements as Walt Disney, Peter Coleman as Joseph Goebbels, Luca Fontaine as Max Borgman, Slate Holmgren as Ambassador Hans-Heinrich Dieckhoff, and Keith Rubin as Ernst Jäger.

The creative team includes scenic designer Suzu Sakai, costume designer Stephanie Bahniuk, lighting designer Yung-Hung Sung, and sound designer Liam Bellman-Sharpe.