"The Happiest Man on Earth" at Six Points Theater

"Family first, family second, family last. And we are all family." When Six Points Theater programmed the solo play The Happiest Man on Earth, based on a Holocaust survivor's memoir, for their 31st season, they couldn't have known that it would play at a time when Minnesota has shown the entire world the true meaning of these words. We are all family, we are all Minnesotans, and when you come for any of us, you come for all of us, and we will stand up for and protect our neighbors, our family. This 80-year-old story of surviving Nazi Germany has an eerie resonance to what's happening right here, right now. People afraid to leave their houses to go to work or school, citizens and lawful immigrants carrying their papers around as protection, armed government agents abducting people off the streets and imprisoning them in detention centers where they're treated inhumanely. I'm not calling anyone Nazis, they were a special breed of evil, but the parallels are unmistakable to anyone who's looking. We need to remember our past in order not to repeat it, and since there are fewer and fewer people alive who lived through the Holocaust, plays like this are an excellent way to do that. Six Points' regional premiere of The Happiest Man on Earth is a gorgeous and moving production that is at times difficult to watch, but also provides hope that humans can survive unthinkably horrible times, and come out on the other side better and stronger, and choose happiness. Experience this beautiful true story through February 8 only at Six Points Theater in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood.

Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku's memoir, entitled The Happiest Man on Earth, was published in 2020 when he was 100 years old, in Australia where he immigrated with his family after the war. He died the following year, and a few years later his story was adapted into a play by playwright Mark St. Germain, who wrote the solo play Becoming Dr. Ruth that Six Points produced in 2015, and the great two-hander Freud's Last Session. He has structured it as a direct address to the audience, as if Eddie is giving a talk to a group of people gathered to hear it. The moment #TCTheater vet J.C. Cutler enters the room from the back of the audience, greeting people and humbly introducing himself, he simply is Eddie. In a short time we forget we're watching a play; it feels like watching Eddie himself telling his horrific but inspiring story. In a riveting 70 minutes, Eddie talks about his multiple captures and escapes, his near misses and close encounters with death, and his ultimate survival, meeting and marrying another survivor and moving to Australia to start a family and several businesses. His recovery was long, but ultimately he learned to choose happiness and gratitude for the life he had.

J.C. Cutler as Eddie (photo courtesy of Six Points)

Ben McGovern directs the piece and along with J.C. and the design team has created a fully engrossing and compelling play. J.C. gives a fully realized performance, conveying all of Eddie's fear, hope, despair, and even moments of humor. This play would be effective just as simple straightforward storytelling, but the dynamic movement around the space and the lighting and sound make it come alive in a truly visceral way. Four narrow windows on brick pedestals, against a curtain of blue, change color, and lights dim from the fully lit auditorium to something darker appropriate to each moment of the story. As Eddie, dressed like your kindly grandpa in an argyle sweater vest and khakis, tells his story, we hear the ambient noise of cars and gunshots, like a punch in the gut that makes the story feel so real. It's a beautifully and succinctly written play, expertly executed by the team at Six Points in a way that enhances rather than distracts from the storytelling. (Scenic design by Brady Whitcomb, costume design by Anna Rubey, lighting design by Todd M. Reemtsma, sound design by C. Andrew Mayer, props design by Rick Polenek.)

Every Holocaust story is different (and Eddie's is filled with lots of specifically terrifying details), and every Holocaust story is the same, in the Nazis' extreme cruelty and complete disregard for humanity. The Happiest Man on Earth is an example of theater that meets the moment, in ways no one could have predicted. Or maybe we could have, if we were paying attention.