White Rose pitch (Jennifer Rosenfeld)

Sophie and her older brother Hans are teenagers in Germany. The year is 1939. Their parents, Robert and Magdalena, are loving and supportive and encourage their children to think for themselves. The Scholl household is defined by it’s love of the music and literature, including the banned works of foreign and Jewish writers.

The Scholl household exists in stark contrast to the realities of life in Germany. Under the Nazi regime, the German population is under constant scrutiny by the Gestapo. The slightest hint of dissatisfaction with the regime results in arrest or worse.

Hans and Sophie have their passions, interests, and desires and yet they live in a world that is completely hostile to individuality. Robert believes in instilling courage in his children. To quote his favorite poem by Goethe, “cowardly thoughts do not ward off misery, they don’t make you free. Gather your forces for the offensive, do not give in - this calls the support of the Gods to your side."

The Nazi war machine runs on the youth of Germany. Hans is drafted into the army. Sophie must attend State Labor service after completing high school.

1942. Sophie returns home after completing her service, eager to go to university. Her mother begs her to stay - Hans is now at university in Munich and Sophie's father is serving a 4-month sentence in prison for making an anti-Hitler comment. Sophie’s mother is worried about Sophie moving away, and distressed about the dispersal of the family. Sophie tells her mother that she can’t put her life on hold any longer, wants to study biology. She leaves.

At the University of Munich, Hans and his friend Alexander are attending a philosophy class taught by professor Kurt Huber. Though they are medical students, Huber’s class is extremely popular - and controversial in that Huber makes subtle, coded comments that critique the Hitler regime.

The class responds enthusiastically to Huber’s lecturing. In the middle of his presentation he takes an aside to tell his story - he feels stuck and dissatisfied in his career. Previously, when he refused to use his research as Nazi propaganda, he lost his job. He has this new job but knows he cannot advance.

Class ends and Hans and Alexander meet up with Willi and Christophe. The four friends humorously commiserate about the need for coded language all the time. Each shares their perspective on why they oppose Hitler: Hans talks about his clashes with his Hitler youth group, Alexander, laments Germany’s war against his Russian homeland, Christophe talks about his Jewish step-mother, and Willi Graf, a Catholic, has faith-based convictions for opposition.

Alexander reveals that he has saved money to purchase a printing press. Hans rallies the four to write a leaflet in protest, to awaken morality in the German people. People find these leaflets and wonder, who is the White Rose?

Sophie reunites with Hans at his apartment. It’s her 21st birthday so Hans and his friends take her out to a chamber music concert. They are all enraptured by the music, especially Sophie. Experiencing music is a unique, humanizing respite from the stress of the outside world. She feels hopeful for her future.

1 A new leaflet from the White Rose appears - bolder than the last - and people reads, trying not to be noticed. Sophie praises the White Rose’s courage. Kurt Huber picks up a leaflet.

Sophie returns to Hans’ apartment. She finds a paper that contains the same text as the leaflet but in Hans’ handwriting. Hans walks in and she confronts him, angrily. Why would he do something so risky? He responds that he won’t change his mind. Sophie decides that she will join him.

Act 2.

Sophie is now the mastermind behind the White Rose distribution strategy. She shares her plan for how to get thousands of leaflets all over Germany. She tells Christophe to leave the group since he has young children. The White Rose distributes their 3rd leaflet.

Hans and Alexander are in Kurt Huber’s class. Hans quotes a passage from the leaflet, and Huber reprimands him. After class, Huber accuses Hans of being reckless. Hans says he wrote those words and will speak them as he chooses. He also tells Huber, if you have anything to say, you know where to find me.

Hans appears confident and defiant, but on the inside he is tormented with paranoia. He reaffirms his decision to resist and refuses to let any weakness show.

Hans and his friends are drafted as medics to go to the Eastern front. They witness the mass atrocities committed by the German army, which strengthens their resolve to resist. Hans writes to Kurt Huber, describing the realities.

Back in Munich, Sophie is relieved that the boys are away. For once, she can actually focus on her studies. She has a crush on Alexander and she wishes she could actually get to know him.

At the university, a German official makes a speech praising Hitler’s victories and emphasizing that the women shouldn’t be in school - they should be mating with German soldiers to make more Aryan babies. The university students protest in anger - and the Gestapo respond aggressively.

Kurt Huber receives the letter from Hans. Huber is desperate to speak out but he has a family to support. And yet, he can’t stay silent anymore. He begins writing.

Hans and his friends return to the university with renewed fervor, to Sophie's dread. She comes up with their most ambitious plan yet. Kurt Huber arrives - he has written their next leaflet.

The next day, Sophie and Hans take bags of leaflets to distribute at the university. Christophe approaches Hans - he has drafted a leaflet. Hans puts it in his pocket. A school janitor sees Hans and Sophie and calls the gestapo.

Sophie and Hans are arrested. Hans tries to shred and eat the paper from Christophe.

2 Sophie and Hans face from the infamous, shrieking Judge Freisler. They admit what they have done, saying that someone had to do it. Sophie's cellmate, Else, tells Sophie that someone else was just arrested. Terrified that it is Alexander, Sophie asks who it is. Else says not to worry, it was Christophe. Sophie breaks down in tears.

Sophie, Hans, and Christophe are sentenced to execution. Hans carves the poem his father had taught them into the wall of his cell. Sophie tells Else about a dream she had, in which there was a woman in a white dress who carrying an infant. The woman disappeared but the child lives on. Sophie says the child is the White Rose - she is at peace with what they did.

Sophie, Hans, and Christophe are executed by guillotine. Willi, Alexander, and Kurt Huber are subsequently arrested and executed. The six of them chant the leaflet theme, with each voice cutting out one by one.

Robert Scholl experiences denial and anger in reaction to his children’s execution. He asks himself if he is to blame for encouraging their independence of mind. He wonders, what do I do now?

As spirits, they respond, saying that they lived their purpose, they know they made a difference, even if it takes time for people to realize it, and they thank him for believing in them.

Notes: • The White Rose allows for the exploration of a number of themes: ◦ What are the day-to-day realities of living under totalitarianism? ▪ Friends/family/co-workers/neighbors turning each other into the Gestapo ▪ The necessity of coded language and self-censorship ▪ The fact that while of course the Jews and other persecuted groups had it worst, the German people were in a very pressured, oppressive environment if they weren't on the bandwagon ◦ How do we grapple with pursuing our individual journeys vs trying to play a role in history/the bigger picture? ◦ The complicated personal impacts of resistance ◦ The role of art/music/literature in creating a moral compass/foundation and in providing solace and healing ◦ Idealism vs pragmatism • this subject matter speaks to me for two primary reasons: ◦ This is a group of people who had nothing to gain by resisting. They could have gotten through life just fine if they'd keep their heads down. ◦ Their motivation to resist was largely fueled by their connection to the arts and the values and moral grounding music, literature, philosophy, and religion provided to them. Obviously, art does not universally have that impact. But it can, and it did in this case. This connection is not one of inference - they wrote extensively about this. • Conceits and musical universe

3 ◦ I see this as a music-front-and-center kind of show, especially since that was a big influence for them. Many if not all of the members of the group were musicians themselves and Sophie wrote about particular composers or pieces that spoke to her. ◦ I'd like to see how a musical ensemble (string quartet or piano quintet) could be an integral part of the staging and drama, kind of like in The Band's Visit, almost as a character in and off itself. I want to showcase the beauty of an acoustic chamber music sound - to have that as a representative of the group's purity of aspiration. Perhaps, in contract, the scenes that describe life under the Nazi regime or voices of Nazis to have an electronic or synthesized/processed sound. ◦ It is important to me to capture a sense of place with the music. While some elements may have a more pop music/contemporary style, several musical moments will draw inspiration from particular works of German composers including Bach cantatas, Beethoven piano sonatas and symphonies, Brahms chamber music and requiem, Schubert lieder. I want to give an impression of what sounds were in their ears, sometimes very subtly and in other cases more explicitly. • Characters. The following are the necessary characters, with shared roles indicated. I'd like the ensemble to be as small as possible. So maybe 3-4 additional chorus members? ◦ Sophie Scholl ◦ Hans Scholl ◦ Robert Scholl/Kurt Huber ◦ Magdalena Scholl/Else ◦ Alexander Schmorell ◦ Christophe Probst ◦ Willi Graf ◦ Roland Freisler/Gauleiter ◦ Russian peasant (can be a shared role with one of the other men) • Questions/help needed ◦ I'd love to figure out a way to incorporate some Romance elements. Maybe something brewing between Sophie and Alexander. Also, maybe Hans having a girlfriend that he writes letters to? (Not sure whether she'd be in the show or not) ◦ I'd love to maybe have a song where 1 or 2 characters is writing a letter and talking through all the things they wish they could say but can't ◦ The ending...how the heck do I end this in a redeeming way that isn't generic and cliche? Les Mis and Hamilton handle this well, but what makes most sense here? • What is it like? ◦ Les Mis meets Spring Awakening meets Sweeney Todd

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