The Diamond Eater (HERE Arts Center NYC)

The celebrated Tony-nominated costume designer Carrie Robbins (Irving Berlin's WHITE CHRISTMAS, GREASE, OVER HERE!), who has designed over 30 Broadway productions, turns playwright this spring with the world-premiere of two one-act plays, SAWBONES and THE DIAMOND EATER, running May 21st through June 7th Off-Broadway at the HERE Arts Center (145 Sixth Ave.) in NYC. Opening night is May 22nd.

Directed by Tazewell Thompson (Toni Morrison's MARGARET GARNER at NYC Opera) and with original music by Scott Munson, SAWBONES and THE DIAMOND EATER are one-act historical dramas based on true events memorialized in the short stories of the late RD Robbins, a long-time NYC surgeon who turned to writing fiction during the last years of his life, becoming a much-published author and 4-time PushCart Prize nominee for excellence in short story writing.

THE DIAMOND EATER is based on a true story, as told to RD Robbins. The play is set in a German camp in 1945 where a senior squad leader undertakes an experiment: he enlists a Jewish surgeon to transplant a gypsy's kidney into a Jew to determine if the Jew will survive.

The casts of the plays feature Wynn Harmon, Eric Kuttner, Thomas Leverton, Tony Naumovski, Lynn Writght, Gregory Marlow, Alexander Salamat and Jenny Vath.

Mr. Munson's original compositions for THE DIAMOND EATER include a melody based on the tune "Ani Ma'amin" (I Believe), sung by Jewish camp prisoners, with the traditional rendition of Maimonides' 13-point version of the Jewish principles of faith as text.