The Marriage of Maria Braun at Atlas Performing Arts Center

DC Theater Arts - Recommended

"...My time is just beginning." Truer words have never been spoken by any character. Maria Braun's straightforward declaration is the essence of Robert McNamara's The Marriage of Maria Braun at SCENA Theatre, based on the 1979 German cult film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and adapted for stage by Peter Marthesheimer & Pea Frohlich."

MD Theatre Guide - Recommended

"...It’s the fourth adaptation of Fassbinder by McNamara, the second at Scena, now in its 26th season. McNamara has professed a kinship toward the filmmaker’s approach and that strong understanding helps keep the stage version moving with velocity and drive, one that won’t wait for an intermission and satisfies and engages like the best of film."

DCTheatreScene - Recommended

The Marriage of Maria Braun is a darker riff on Gone with the Wind, set in West Germany in the years during and after World War II. Maria learns to fend for herself during the war, and has no interest in giving up her independence in the peace. With spunk, determination, and a hearty dose of moral relativism, she rides the wave of post-war prosperity to a higher socio-economic niveau, but leaves her family in the dust, becoming “cold.”