Nineteen-year-old Robi is eager to escape the oppression of Communist Romania to forge a new life in the west. The unexpected return of his mother’s estranged fiance after a 20 year absence may hold a key to his freedom. However, when his mother reveals that Robi’s father was not killed in action, as he’d believed, but is either a Jewish teacher his mother hid during the war or the Hungarian soldier who persecuted him, Robi must decide whether to embrace his ancestry or run from it.

Director Roger Simon brings to life a story of hidden pasts, secrets, and hope for a better future through acceptance of that which we cannot change, and the strength we find to change what we must. Now playing at 59E59 Theaters, The Dressmaker’s Secret, based on Mihai Grunfeld’s semi-autobiographical novel, The Dressmaker’s Son, takes place in 1960s Communist Romania where a 19-year-old on the brink of manhood lives in cramped quarters with his dressmaker mother, Maria (Tracy Sallows) and seeks answers to his own personal history and freedom from his oppressive surroundings. Young Robi (Bryan Burton) longs to leave his confining lifestyle behind him and head west, but not before finding out who his father was. Maria reveals to her son that his father was not killed in action during WWII as she’d always led him to believe, but instead, may in fact be either a Jewish teacher she hid during the war or the Hungarian soldier who persecuted him – her fiancé at the time, who has now returned unexpectedly after a 20-year estrangement. Skillful playwrights Sarah Levine Simon and Mihai Grunfeld allow these scenarios to unfold with such finesse that one is easily transported to another time …Read more