A new film is bringing attention to one of Arthur Miller’s lesser known works. “The Performance” tells the story in Miller’s short story of the same name published in The New Yorker in the 1930s. The short story is about Harold May, a Jewish American tap dancer living in Berlin in 1937.
May and his troupe get invited to perform for the Nazi elite, including Adolf Hitler. This puts May in a complex situation where he must decide whether to cooperate with the regime or risk harm to himself and the performers.
Over 80 years later, Shira Piven has directed an adaptation of Miller’s short story into a film starring Jeremy Piven as Harold May. The drama also stars Robert Carlyle, Adam Garcia, and the late Suzanne Shepherd. It depicts the moral dilemma May faced in deciding to perform for the Nazis. The film has already played at film festivals in Rome and Palm Springs where it received positive reviews.
The project is especially meaningful for the Piven family. Piven’s mother, acclaimed acting teacher Joyce Hiller Piven, first discovered the short story in The New Yorker decades ago. She shared it with her children and inspired them to bring Miller’s story to the screen. Anthony Buckner, head of international distribution for Alliance Media Partners, said the film “will resonate deeply with audiences worldwide” and “its journey to awards acknowledgment is quickly gathering pace.”
The film won’t just feature great acting but “also serves as a bridge connecting the past and present,” said Geno Taylor, head of the film’s domestic distributor GVN Releasing. By adapting Miller’s lesser known short story, the film promises to shed new light on the playwright’s broader body of work while tackling important themes that remain relevant today.