Crooked Cross

Mint Theatre Company
(sound design)
Theatre Row

Written by Lynn Riggs
Directed by Jonathan Banks

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“The standard question “Why this play now?” is answered with every beat of Carson’s script, which chronicles in microcosm a knitted-together society coming apart, violently, needlessly, irrationally. It is a fascinating play to stage in 2025, and the Mint is absolutely doing its job by putting it in front of audiences.”

Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times

Crooked Cross draws us into the story of the Klugers, facing the economic and political challenges of life in a quaint village in the Bavarian mountainside between Christmas 1932 and June 1933.

At the heart of the play is a family torn apart by conflicting loyalties. Lexa Kluger is engaged to Moritz Weissmann, a Jewish doctor. Lexa’s brothers, Helmy and Erich, are becoming increasingly involved with the Nazi party. We see the rise of fascism, but we also see the yearning for belonging that drives these young men into the darkness.

The music draws from the music of the era, both from archival recordings National Socialist Party of the time as well as Jewish classical composer, silenced for too long.