From Page to Stage: A Conversation With “Spies in My Blood’s” Alex Storozynski
Alex Storozynski is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, filmmaker and President Emeritus and Chairman of the Board of the Kosciuszko Foundation. His latest Book “Spies in My Blood” has been adapted for the stage and will make its debut at United Solo’s Fall Festival. Performed by Alex and directed by Festival Founder/Artistic Director Omar Sangare the piece is a gripping story of family and the price of secrecy.
What if everything you thought you knew about your family was a lie? In “Spies in My Blood” a brother’s deathbed confession leads Alex on an odyssey that spans continents, governments and generations to uncover a hidden legacy.
“Spies in my Blood” is a story of not only family secrets but also government secrets, and their effect certainly on your life, but also the lives of countless others. What made you decide that now was the moment to tell this story?
This story has had many lives. Initially, I began writing about Communism in Poland in the 1980s when I went there during the Cold War, but publishers thought that I was exaggerating about how terrible it really was. It was not until many years later, when I got hold of secret dossiers that showed the Communist secret police had me and my brother under surveillance, that I went back to the story. When my brother admitted to me on his deathbed that he worked for the CIA, and I learned more about the fight for freedom carried out by other generations in my family, I realized that this was a larger intertwined story about genetics. With Russia trying to recapture Eastern Europe, these stories must be told so that Americans will understand what Putin and the Kremlin are up to.
Did the revelations about your grandfather, father and brother that are revealed in the piece change the way you viewed them? Were there things that suddenly made sense in retrospect or that changed the way you viewed yourself and your place in your family?
My Mama always said she didn’t want me going into the family business, and as a kid, I wasn’t sure what she meant. I always knew that the men who raised me were tough. But I never realized how tough they were until I got hold of classified military and intelligence records showing that what they did was much more brutal and heroic than I realized. They tried to keep the gory details from me because I was the first in my family born in the United States, so they wanted to spare me from the horrors they went through. And right before my mother died, she recorded her story onto cassette tapes. It was too painful for me to listen to those tapes for many years because she survived the Holocaust and the Wolyn massacre and was enslaved in a work camp in Nazi Germany, where she developed tuberculosis from picking up corpses. My duty was to let the world know what my family went through. That was my role in the family business, to tell these stories.
In researching the story what did you discover that surprised you the most?
The discovery of the identity of the biological father of my cousin Roberts was a big revelation because it unraveled even more secrets, like the fact that my grandfather did not just use his cut throat razor to shave. He was an assassin.
Were there things that your research revealed that were too sensitive to put in the story?
The book only includes things I could prove or know to be true. Growing up, there were times when my parents and grandparents were talking about events they witnessed during World War II, like rape, murder, cannibalism, and other atrocities. But whenever they realized I was near, they stopped talking. If I revealed everything I found, the book would be three times as long.
What is the one thing that you most want audiences to take away from “Spies in my Blood”?
Living through the worst period of genocide in human history, my mother made sure to instill tolerance in me. When I was in Berlin, I was startled when I heard “Achtung, Achtung” on the loudspeaker in the train station, and I made a snarky comment about Germans. My Mama said, no, we don’t do that. There were two points during the war when her life was saved by Germans. She said people can only be judged by their actions and what they represent, not by nationality. Hate tortures the hater. Love gratifies the giver.
United Solo presents“Spies In my Blood” on Saturday November 2nd at 2:00 PM at Theatre One in Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd St, NYC). For tickets and information click here.
Wendy Lane Bailey has a powerful classic pop voice and a rather cavalier attitude towards the idea of genre. Wendy-Lane’s debut solo recording, Breathing, was produced by composer/arranger/pianist Michele Brourman. Her performances in venues across the country have earned critical praise for versatility and sophistication. She has appeared as a guest artist on multiple recordings, including Leslie Gore’s and Susan Egan’s. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, HB Studios and the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center. Off-stage Wendy Lane is a creative advocate for artists. While living in Washington, D.C., she founded a regional networking organization for musicians and for five years, was the Associate Director of the Cabaret Conference at Yale University. She received a 2007 Bistro Award for outstanding achievement and was nominated for a Washington Area Music Association Award. While serving on the board of NJ’s Pioneer productions, she produced, directed, and appeared in several theatre pieces. She is currently developing Hot Coffee, MS, a solo theatre piece with music in collaboration with Michele Brourman & Gretchen Cryer. In 2020, she accepted the position of Assistant Artistic Director of the United Solo Theatre Festival. In addition to her performing work, she teaches and consults privately and in master classes for singers of all genres.