About the Show

This world premiere dramatizes the relationship between two leading intellectuals of the twentieth century: Hannah Arendt, a Zionist, and Martin Heidegger, who became an ardent Nazi.

Hannah Arendt was a brilliant political theorist and a philosophical thinker of the first rank. As a teenager, she commenced an affair with Martin Heidegger, a celebrated German philosopher who went on to become a leading and unapologetic supporter of Adolf Hitler. After World War II, Arendt maintained her friendship with Heidegger, met with him and corresponded with him, despite Heidegger’s silent refusal to disavow the Nazi party. The play explores how this could have happened, by probing into the Arendt/Heidegger affair.

Critic Reviews (5)

"Author Douglas Lackey and director Alexander Harrington have managed to extract a thought-provoking stimulating performance from two of the most controversial public intellects of the twentieth century...Their conflict is presented through an exhilarating poignant dialogue...Simon and Stuyck are a superb pair, attuned to each other, finding the nuances, and portraying in subtle ways the impact on their relationship that their external reality imposes.”
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"Neither Arendt nor Heidegger seem capable of loving passion in Lackey's new play...The romance between Arendt, played with often sympathetic political nagging by Simon, and Heidegger could have been a good platform for explaining Nazism and its educated supporters...Stabs are made at comparing our present gross Trumpism to the pre-Nazi Weimar world...’Arendt – Heidegger’ may be one of the historical signposts to which we might pay some attention.”
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“This is the story of a woman in love, no ordinary woman and no ordinary affair’...This play is mesmerizing in its many now-familiar aspects...The casting is perfect, making the story ever so plausible.”
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“A niche play for an intellectual audience that is aware of Hannah Arendt, if not Martin Heidegger, as well as a play for those philosophy-loving newbie’s with an intellectual bent...Breathing life into this production is the masterful melding, under the deft hand of director Alexander Harrington, of the actors and technical crew...While all of the actors were simply wonderful, it was Simon’s uncanny channeling of Arendt that kidnapped the entire audience."
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"At the core of 'Arendt/Heidegger: A Love Story,' a new play by Douglas Lackey, is the intellectual, emotional, and romantic relationship between two of the leading intellectuals of the 20th century...In this well staged and acted drama, directed by Alexander Harrington, Hannah and her married 35-year-old professor enter into a romantic relationship...The play closes with a powerful final encounter between Hannah and Martin in the dining room of a Freiberg hotel in 1964."
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