Take one family story, one world war, a book published by your grandmother about her ordeal, and what do you have? For Fringe artist Ingrid Garner, you have a one-hour, one-woman show called “Eleanor’s Story: An American Girl in Hitler’s Germany.”
In 1999, Garner’s grandmother Eleanor published a memoir of her time spent growing up as an American in Nazi Berlin during World War II. Long an untold family secret, the book recounts the events that surrounded Eleanor as a 9-year-old American headed to Germany during the Depression to the family’s inability to head home when war breaks out. The years between are filled with bombings, hunger, gestapo threats, and the horrors of Russian occupation.
What made Garner decide to bring her grandmother’s story to the stage? It was a story she knew well, a piece of her own history, and seamlessly adaptable for Fringe.
“I think the unique quality of a Fringe show is the often very intimate relationship between the artist and their creation,” says Garner. “The play is far from a recitation of the events, it’s a physical enactment and it’s all me.”
Covering a seven-year story in one hour has its challenges, but also concentrates history in a way that allows us to truly feel the fear, desperation, and resilience that filled Eleanor’s years in Nazi-occupied Berlin. The simple set features only a handful of creatively used props, relying largely on sound and projection to guide the audience through the story.
What we’re left with is a captivating look into one family’s past, passed down through generations, and re-enacted for new audiences in a way that shares the horrors of all wars—and the hope needed to survive.
“Eleanor’s Story: An American Girl in Hitler’s Germany” is playing at the Fringe Fest from June 10 to 18. Find times and tickets here.
