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Beauty Freak

By James Clements

Photography by Pablo Calderón Santiago

Beauty Freak is a multi-media research-based play exploring the complex and controversial life and legacy of the German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.

Riefenstahl was born in Germany and rose to prominence as a silent film actress. In the 1930s, she turned her astonishing talents as the pioneering female filmmaker of her time to the service of the Nazi regime. Her films, made in the 1930s, altered the course of modern cinema, but also immortalised and celebrated the murderous cult of Hitler and the Nazis. Though cleared by de-Nazification courts, she remained forever tarnished by her association with the Third Reich.

PRODUCTION HISTORY

July 2021 - Curated for a Staged Reading at the BorderLight Festival - CLEVELAND

Director James Clements
Featuring Max Beckman, Abram Blau, Derya Celikkol, Ana Cristina Da Silva, Sam Hood Adrain, Beatriz Miranda*, Thalia Romina, Wes van Schaik, Tina Shepard*

Camera Pablo Calderón Santiago
Editing Katherine Guanche

March 2020 - Workshop at A.R.T./New York - NEW YORK

Director James Clements
Featuring Abram Blau, Coral Cohen, Ana Cristina Da Silva, Sophia Frank, Sam Hood Adrain, Beatriz Miranda*

November 2018 - Workshop at the Plaxall Gallery - NEW YORK

Director Coral Cohen
Featuring Tatiana Baccari, Abram Blau, Derya Celikkol, Ana Cristina Da Silva, Sam Hood Adrain, Devante Lawrence, Portland Thomas*, Leanne Velednitsky, Kayla Yee, Tina Shepard*

Production Design Johanna Pan

September 2018 - Workshop at the Berliner Schule Für Schauspiel - BERLIN

Director James Clements
Featuring Bastian Castillo, Andy Guy, Tayi Sanusi, Pascal Schaidl


*Member of Actors Equity Association



SELECTED PRESS & AWARDS

Received the 2020 A.R.T./New York Creative Space Grant

Received the 2021 Indie Theatre Fund Grant

BWW Interview: James Clements and WWTNS? Examine the Life of Leni Riefenstahl in BEAUTY FREAK - BROADWAYWORLD

James Clements' BEAUTY FREAK to be Presented at BorderLight Festival - BROADWAYWORLD