Author's Process
"In a musical, all three elements (text, lyrics, and
music) should work together to advance our understanding of the story (plot), the characters and the theme or meaning
of the piece."
Ken Vega
Before he started working on the musical Heartfield, Kenneth Allan Vega had written and produced cabaret-theater piece Berlin 1932, a collage made of his original songs as well as writings and songs of the period from before WWII. His wish to rewrite Berlin 1932 never took place but he was still interested in further exploration of historical events of that particular period in world history using the 'collage technique'. The idea to use both elements in a completely original work came to him in 1993 after he saw the John Heartfield retrospective exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York in 1993. John Heartfield's life and "incredibly inspiring artworks" made him decide to use them both as the "heart of the story" and as a "stylistic approach" to it. Heartfield's grandson John Heartfield, is Vega's personal friend and was able to supply him with some little known information about his grandfather's life and work.
"I questioned my friend John about his family. When I heard the story of his mother and father's meeting in the north of Italy during WW2, I began to think of structuring [this piece] in three acts bringing it through the war years up to the year of Heartfield's death in 1968," says Vega, and adds that he was especially interested in "tracing the lineage, seeing what ideas and passions were passed on to son and grandson." He was intrigued by the idea of exploring the various dimensions and repercussions of WWII, and connecting them to his own father's experience from that war.
He began to work on the musical in 1994, and completed the first
draft in 1995. In 1997 he organized an informal stage reading of the script and recorded a demo tape, at the
Manhattan Theater Club. After that reading, Kate Chisholm
expressed an interest in directing a
fully staged version of Heartfield. Explore the