The show officially opens on Friday and runs through May 19. A member of the faculty since 1999, Manley is also slated to direct a cluster of Sam Shepard plays later this quarter. Stripped of any trace of glamour and glitz, the show is both gritty and raw. Full of foreboding, it graphically depicts the dark and morally degenerate milieu that provided the backdrop for Adolf Hitler's rise to power. The show's set, designed by David Castellano, immediately establishes a mood of oppressive industrial grunge.
Smoke floats up eerily through a metal grating.
Hundreds of items of darkly colored cast-off clothing flank the edges of the set. The action of the play revolves around a seedy Berlin hangout known as the Kit Kat Klub. Kickel- is the club's star attraction. As Cliff and Sally soon discover, however, this is not really possible. The sordid world of the Klub, despite its seductive promises, cannot offer respite from the dark clouds of war gathering over Germany and the rest of Europe.