Playwright Michelle Kholos Brooks finds laughter even in the darkest of situations in her provocatively titled, fact-based H*tler’s Tasters, the latest uber-intimate “Upstairs at the Matrix” Rogue Machine hit.

The year may be 1944 and the setting may be a bunker somewhere in or around Berlin, but from the way Hilda (Olivia Gill), Anna (Ali Axelrad), and Liesel (Paige Simunovich) talk and act, you could easily assume they’ve just stepped out of a trending TikTok video or Netflix teen comedy, Kholos’s reminder to us that despite her play’s Nazi Germany setting and time frame, we could just as well be anywhere in the USA today.

As to why the three teenage girls find themselves spending their waking hours in a room furnished only with a small dining table and three straight-back chairs, the reason is both simple and historically accurate.

They’ve been chosen among the finest and purest of young Aryan womanhood to sample the meals about to be served to “The Fuhrer” (the H word is never spoken) in order to determine whether or not they contain poison. (Talk about a risky business.)

And since these meals (and the 60 minutes the girls must wait after each one to ascertain its potentially deadly effects) take up only a part of their days, they spend the rest of their time doing things like taking selfies (their outfits may be from the 1940s but their cell phones are state-of-the-art) in poses befitting movie stars or supermodels or influencers.

It’s clear from the get-go that alpha taster Hilda could give Regina George, Heather Chandler, or Sharpay Evans lessons in mean-girlness, and why not? Her father is, after all, an officer in the German army and she herself could be a poster girl for the League of German Girls.

Raven-haired Anna, on the other hand, seems considerably more aware of what’s going on in the world outside their bunker, of families who have disappeared, and of the significance of the “golden cups” they drink out of, having once been friends with a girl whose family had a set of them before their “disappearance.”

And then there’s Liesel, the sweet one, the peacemaker, and perhaps the only one among them who realizes how lucky they are to still be alive when so many of their friends have died.

If this all seems a bit grim even for a dark comedy, it might be without director Sarah Norris (who’s directed at least a dozen previous productions of Kholos’s play) and an all-new cast of four (Caitlin Zambito completes the ensemble as “replacement taster Margot) who deliver star turns that smack, crackle, and fizz to comedic perfection. (That each of them is given at least one dramatic moment to dig deep into only adds to the richness of their work.)

Kholos’s play may be set 80 years in the past, but substitute the name of the 45th President for “The Fuhrer” and you’ll see how chillingly relevant it is to the America we live in today, despite the laughter inspired by lines like “I’ll bet he sings like an angel,” “he” being you know who.

Rogue Machine’s teeny-tiny upstairs Henry Murray Stage provides H*tler’s Tasters with the most ideal of settings , and though “scenic design” is kept to a minimum, lighting and sound effects are stunningly dramatic, as are the angsty indie pop tunes which back up some striking original choreography.

Casting is by Victoria Hoffman. Meg Cain and Sam Cass complete the cast in cameo roles.

H*tler’s Tasters is produced by Lexi Sloan and Guillermo Cinefuegos, and presented by Rogue Machine Theatre in associate with New Light Theater Project. Rich Wong is stage manager and Rachel Ann Manheimer is production manager.

Don’t let H*tler’s Tasters’ “triggering” title keep you away from catching its Hollywood Premiere at the Matrix.

Michelle Kholos Brooks’ unique gem of a play may hit a bit close to home for some, but it’s terrifically entertaining, splendidly directed and performed, and proof that even in the darkest of times, laughter remains the best medicine.

Design credits: Scenic and Lighting Design by Joe McClean and Dane Bowman. New Light Scenic Design by An-lin Dauber. New Light Lighting Design by Christina Tang. New Light Sound Design by Carsen Joenk. Sound Consultant: Chris Moscatiello. Costume Design: Ashleigh Poteat. Costume Coordinator: Christine Cover Ferro. Original Choreography: Ashlee Wasmund. Choreography for Rogue Machine: Emmy Frevele. Choreography Consultant for Rogue Machine: Myrna Gawryn.

Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles. Through June 3. Mondays and Fridays at 8:00. Sundays at 7:00.
www.roguemachinetheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
April 27, 2024
Photos: Jeff Lorch

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Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Matrix Theatre, Michelle Kholos Brooks, Rogue Machine Theatre