When it comes to making fun of Nazis, playwright Michelle Kholos Brooks has an endorsement of comedic pedigree: Mel Brooks is her father-in-law.
“He told her that he was allowing her to borrow Hitler,” says Kaitlin Paige Longoria, the artistic director of 5th Wall Theatre who previously starred in the younger Brooks’ play “H*tler’s Tasters” in New York.
The director of “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein” was joking around, but the support of an EGOT winner certainly doesn’t hurt anyone in showbiz.
Inspired by the real-life experience of young women who tasted Adolf Hitler’s food to ensure it wasn’t poisoned, “H*tler’s Tasters” has enjoyed various successes over the years, including a sold-out run at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and being named a TimeOut New York critics’ pick. This week, 5th Wall’s production opens at Virginia Rep’s Theatre Gym with Longoria in the director’s chair.

Longoria’s journey with “H*tler’s Tasters” began in 2018 when she was cast in the play’s New York debut. In the run up to Edinburgh she became a producer while continuing to act in the show, then toured with the play around America. As 5th Wall’s recently installed artistic director, Longoria decided to bring the show to Richmond as part of her inaugural season.
“At its core, it’s a cautionary tale about ignorance and complacency and what happens when you blindly follow a leader,” says Longoria, who played the character Anna for more than 100 shows. “The focus is on taking these young women out of history and bringing them to the present, because history does have a horrible way of repeating itself.”
TimeOut New York called it a “sly and disturbing meditation on the seductiveness of evil” that connected Hitler’s era to America’s current political moment.
“It’s a play about young women in a situation where they’re complicit with a tyrant,” says Preston Bradsher, who plays Liesel in the Richmond production. “These women are ostensibly an important part of Hitler’s organization. They’re supposed to bear German sons. They’re all part of the girls’ version of Hitler Youth. They are deep, deep, deep in it. They are still unbelievably expendable. They are, every single day, expected to come in and just wait to die. They come in cheerfully almost because that’s what they’ve been taught.”
Bradsher says her character takes care of the other tasters.
“She’s been there a long time,” Bradsher says. “She is really asking a lot of questions. She’s asking them to herself. We believe she comes from an intellectual family.”
The actors have enjoyed working on the show, even though they must put themselves in the mindset of people who would give their lives for Hitler at each rehearsal.
“The cast has really come to love each other, but it’s a hard play to work on,” Bradsher says. “This play is very up and down because it’s funny. We joke that we’re doing a lot of girlhood. It feels like you’re at a sleepover, and then the reality sets in.”
Becka Russo, who is Jewish, plays Hilda in the show and says it’s strange to be representing someone in the Nazi war machine.
“I didn’t think I’d be telling this story of the oppressors, but I think if you peel back the layers, you’ll find that it’s still a story of the oppressed,” they say.
Russo describes their character as “the Regina George of the story,” referencing the main antagonist in “Mean Girls.”
“She is trying to capture the Aryan idea,” Russo says. “She’s a believer in the Third Reich. She is an elitist and one of the people who was really subjected to the propaganda.”
The play’s title has occasionally drawn backlash. At various points during the earlier production that Longoria was involved with, each cast member’s Facebook profile was taken down because they referenced Hitler in relation to the show. They also had scheduled shows at a school in Connecticut canceled.
“They essentially ripped up our contracts,” Longoria says. “We were told that they didn’t want us to come because it was too close to an election, that they were a red county, and they didn’t feel like we would be well received.”
“H*tler’s Tasters” is a continuation of the kind of work that Longoria says she wants to bring to Richmond’s stages; last season, as 5th Wall’s creative producer, Longoria pitched the company on “Radiant Vermin,” Philip Ridley’s pitch black comedy about the housing crisis. The show, which co-starred Longoria, won Best Play from the Richmond Theatre Community Circle on Sunday (full disclosure: Griset is a past RTCC member).
Connecting “H*tler’s Tasters” to the present, Longoria notes that the show will finish its run a few days before Election Day.
“It’s important for people to understand that even though this is a play set in the 1940s during World War II, that it is a story that’s very relevant to today,” Longoria says. “We’re living in this time where propaganda and disinformation and blind loyalty is very prevalent. This play is reminding us of the consequences of not questioning authority and the importance of remaining vigilant against authoritarianism.”
5th Wall Theatre’s “H*tler’s Tasters” runs Oct. 17-Nov. 2 at Virginia Rep’s Theatre Gym, 114 W. Broad St. For more information visit 5thwalltheatre.org or email info@5thwalltheatre.org.