At four years old, little Lucie Pohl’s teeth are black from eating too much candy, she’s obsessed with Hitler, and she spends her nights watching her father channel Zarah Leander – while performing in full drag.  Lucie doesn’t know it yet, but she’s the typical American Kid.

Don’t believe me?  By eight years old little Lucie’s very artistic, very non-traditional German-Jewish family heads from Hamburg to New York City. From then on, nothing is the same for her again.

Actress, comedian & writer Lucie Pohl takes her show Hi, Hitler (directed by Jessi D. Hill) to 59E59 Theatre before making her Edinburgh Festival debut.  With only one show left tomorrow afternoon, I was happy to catch this performance before it set off for the tour.

Pohl’s transition from German kid to New York City transplant is a story that can resonate with any person living here. Even if your trek started from the Midwest, chances are you arrived with the same wide-eyed shock when confronted with the unique rhythm of The Big Apple.  You probably had the same “Now What?” moments and struggled to find your spot in a city where ‘finding a spot’ is a myth for some, a birthright for others – and for those brave enough to accept the challenge – a dare that determines how everything else will fall into place.  Some thrive on it.  Some are beaten back by it.  But it all starts with that search to fit into an already over-crowded metropolis.

Perhaps the only difference between Lucie and you is your point of origin, and the fact that one of the last things Lucie did before coming to America was rock out at a David Hasselhoff  concert.  Those Germans sure love the Hoff.

As she describes it, Pohl’s childhood was filled with emotional souvenirs from her homeland – but whose isn’t?  Lucie’s mother may not have been traditional, but she invented and reinforced the concept of The Pohl Family Circus – not an actual circus, but real-life performance art where the drama of their family was played out on the stage of their new home.  At the Circus the Pohls were allowed to be as dramatic, as quirky, as unique and as peculiar as they want to be.

The melodrama of growing up with father Klaus Pohl (a heavy-drinking tortured playwright) and mother Sandra Weigl (a free spirited singer and the niece of Bertolt Brecht) is captured brilliantly in lines like  “I stood in front of the mirror to watch myself cry.  Because that is what you do in a theatrical family”.

As resistant as she was to the idea, nine year old Lucie fits in beautifully, as all eccentric, bizarre, unique kids fit into this city of immigrants.  And while it may have taken a while for her particular brand of crazy to catch on, once it did she found for herself that eventually all those strange inclinations are what make new kids on the block sparkle, causing them to be embraced and even prized.

Pohl – whose normal voice has not a trace of any accent besides good ole All-American – has a gift for accents and intonations.  Not only is she able to switch between her native German-speaking-younger-self to her English-speaking-present-self without dropping a beat, she also consummately takes on her European-accented relatives while  voicing everything from an Indian cab driver to a Chinese landlord.   What really stands out is the mishmash of German-with-Peurto-Rican swagger she and her German friend adopt and dub (among other things) “German-icano”.

Pohl is dramatic – and this is obvious from the first moment she bounds onto the stage.  She’s a proud German, a proud Jew, a proud New Yorker and a proud performer.  These facts are telegraphed boldly throughout every moment of the play.  She’s an amalgam of far-flung nuances and all that chemistry can’t help but bubble up and create an enticing cocktail of humor, storytelling and tireless physical pantomime.

Her volume starts at – and stays at – 11.  And while it takes a good five minutes to adjust to the speed of her roller coaster, Pohl’s performance gives you that same giddy payoff, worth every second of the ride.

Director Jessi D. Hill understands the fizzy burst of Pohl’s innate intensity.  Hill guides the force, sometimes shaking up the bottle and letting Pohl’s natural energy and exuberance burst all over the stage, and sometimes slowing down Pohl’s natural inclinations in order to underline the more thoughtful, sincere moments of the play.

Pohl’s off to Edinburgh, but I’m relatively sure she’ll be back in the states soon enough performing this firecracker of a show.  So if you weren’t able to catch it this time around, make sure to keep an eye out for Hi, Hitler.  This is defintely a case where audiences will benefit by history repeating itself.

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Hi, Hitler

Click Here for tickets

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I am fascinated with driven entertainers who do more with their beautiful mug and talent than the average human. In saying this, no one fits this mold better than German sensation Soraya Garcia.  Born in Hannover to Spanish parents, Soraya has risen out of an array of fashion models and musicians to stand alone. She labels herself a “rebellious, liberal democrat” and as her career is about to explode, I figured I would sit down with her and grab a few quick thoughts from her creative mind, before I am having to wait in line like the rest of the Universe …

Would love to get a breakdown of your background, it’s so interesting? Where are you from? Your heritage? How has that shaped who you are today?

Thank you very much! My family is actually from Valladolid, a city close to Madrid in Spain. I was born and raised in Hannover, Germany though…which is quite interesting since I feel that both countries are so different from each other. In Spain, we are pretty passionate and we know how to enjoy life whilst Germans tend to be very driven by hard work and discipline… So…I often feel this cultural mix keeps me balanced and makes me more tolerant and understanding of other cultures.

How did you break into Fashion? Where do you see yourself going next? Acting wise, especially?

I got into this industry when I was around 19. Paul Mitchell was casting models for a hair show, I happened to more or less “run into” the casting agents and hair stylists from L.A., and got to do the whole runway thing with eight-inch heels and their latest hair-style creation on my head – which included about ten tons of hair-spray and more hair gel I ever thought existed. All in all a funny experience, that led to more and more shoots, including fashion,beauty and commercial print. Another big focus of mine is music though, my electronica band Excess-bition is just about to release our first cd “Intellectual Property”, I am more then exited to start dj-ing very soon too. I love creativity so much, and i just think all arts kind of flow together; that is why I would love to expand all my possibilities, and since modeling is a little bit of acting too, I would love to try that on a small scale as well. I just love to have the best of all ALL worlds, haha.

I know you are multi lingual. What languages do you speak and or study?

Well… I speak German, English and Spanish fluently, plus some basic French and Italian. I also studied Latin for six years, since my dad wanted me to become a lawyer or a doctor…well..not quite, haha.

I also know you are very well known for your constant voice in animal activism. What is your daily lifestyle/outlook like? Also, I know you support the German organization BUND-can you tell me more about this organization?

Sure! I have been a vegetarian since I was twelve years old, and a vegan since I turned nineteen, meaning I do not use any animal product at all. Animals are just so important to me; having two cats myself, I feel that an animal is more than a potential steak or sausage. I know people classify animals into categories, meaning e.g you can eat a cow but not a cat in our society, but I choose to not make this distinction. They say that a society is also characterized by the way it treats their animals…if so, we still have a lot to learn, I guess. I know that not everybody will stop eating meat or wearing fur just for the sake of it, but I wish people would realize that animals actually DO have feelings, they do feel pain, and that it is completely unnecessary to kill or exploit them in my opinion. Apart from other charities dedicated to animals, I support the German “BUND”, which helps to protect the environment and animals alike. Their latest campaigns are intended to save the whales, and to protect endangered animals. Please feel free to find out more at: www.bund.net.

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There she is!  I’m delighted to introduce New York City to her. To listen to Soraya’s music on Reverb Nation, Go here.

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