Talking with Angels on YouTube

FACED WITH THE apocalyptic tone and terror of the Reagan era, Tony Kushner famously imagined angels helping us mortals to rise to our full stature and potential. Since the Bush era, far from retreating from those dark times, has only improved on them, the spiritual-political project Kushner envisioned might seem more vital than ever. Certainly, Shelley Mitchell's skillfully honed one-woman stage adaptation, Talking with Angels, will convince you of that. (more) sf bay guardian

Talking with Angels is a tour de force by Shelley Mitchell. Solo on a bare stage with just mind, body, imagination and chutzpa to sustain her, she morphs herself through different characters and creates a marvelous ensemble drama out of thin air. Its a wonder to behold. Carroll Ballard, filmmaker

a portrayal with such leisurely, lifelike timing,...Mitchell transforms into something between a dancer and a shaman. ..Its excruciating beauty derives from its simplicity, its purity and the veracity of its harrowing stories...(more) Steven Leigh Morris, L.A. weekly

a flawless performance, Mitchell is an amazing talent!
(more) SF Examiner

Mitchell switches seamlessly between the aged Mallasz and the grace of the seraphs, interspersing ethereal matters with the more earthly concern of the ever-increasing danger of living in Nazi-occupied Hungary... Mitchell's consummate skill as a performer illuminates this thoughtful combination of human bravery and the divine. (more)
Irish Theatre Magazine - Sept. '06

This riveting piece speaks of life, death and faith through a talented actor who deftly brings alive a remarkable figure.(more) SF GATE

The portrait of Mallasz is a tour de force(more)
SF weekly

DIARY OF RESCUE- Talking With Angels': Shelley Mitchell got her hands on this Holocaust memoir in 1982 and, moved by its spiritualism, she resurrected it. (more) Sf chronicle

Shelley Mitchell es una mujer prodigiosa, con este tema tan apropiado sobretodo en la época difícil en que vivimos, ella deleita con una historia increíble de salvación, bondad y divinidad. (more) SF Tribune

TALKING WITH ANGELS is a powerful and moving experience... relevant, soul-stirring. and thought provoking.
JEAN SHINODA BOLEN, M.D., JUNGIAN ANALYST AND AUTHOR

Shelley Mitchell gives a virtuoso performance of a remarkable story... S.F. BAY GUARDIAN

...honest simplicity and openness...neither overly reverential nor didactic; in fact, this is a gripping theatrical experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout...
MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL

..mystical true-life tale... SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

The play is truly riveting...a performance with rich vocabulary of movement, speech and gesture. JEWISH WEEK

Shelley Mitchell, a sublime actress -- radiant, beautiful, soulful--performed a tour de force adaptation of an important human document NEW YORK THEATRE WIRE

"Extraordinary light emerges from the dark in Shelley Mitchell's brilliantly realized production of Talking WIth Angels: the astonishingstory of revelation and redemption in the midst of the Holocaust."
MICHAEL MURPHY, FOUNDER OF ESALEN INSTITUTE

TALKING WITH ANGELS is a profound experience for the audience. Shelley Mitchell creates a partnership and a collaborative experience unlike any other. I find the work that she does as an actress to be in the realm of social and personal transformation and am thrilled and delighted that she has taken her discipline so much farther than most people would ever consider. TALKING WITH ANGELS is a very special theater experience and one that should be seen by as many audiences as possible.
LYNNE TWIST

If you'd like to submit your own comment: please click here.

My family has seen Shelley MItchell's brilliant theatrical adaptation of Talking with Angels...a true and valiant rescue story that took place in the darkest period of the Holocaust in my native Hungary. Her bold rendition of this depraved time confronts the unspeakable consequences of man’s inhumanity to man and is at the same time uniquely uplifting and hopeful.
[This] timely message of personal responsibility enriches our social fabric.
Sincerely
Us Congressman Tom Lantos

In "Talking With Angels", Shelley Mitchell uses her remarkable talent as an actor to take us to another time and another place, while at the same time inviting us to look deeply at who we are. It is a rare evening in the theater.
Jill Eikenberry

...Shelley has such an alchemical gift for performance that one would have to reach back in time, and to the medium of film- to Joanne Woodward in "The Three Faces of Eve," or John Barrymore in the 1920 silent "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"- to find a parallel for this actor's ability to transform from one character to another. ...If it is relatively rare to come away from theater genuinely moved, it is even rarer to emerge from a play with the sense of having experieinced a spiritual infusion. Yet that is the effect of this play and this performance.
JOHN BEEBE, MD
Past Pres., C.G. Jung Institute of S.F.

"Shelley Mitchell takes us behind the veil. Her angels are invisible and believable."
Robert Mcdermott, Prof. of Philosophy, California Institute of Integral studies

I first saw your play at the Jung Institute. Then I attended the salon event on the slopes of Mt.Tamalpais; I brought my sister. I attended tonight's performance in Mill Valley and brought six women from my book group! Each time I have been deeply moved, not only by Gita's story but also by your incarnation of the entire experience, which is to say your superb acting ability. And not only your acting, but your adaptation and interpretation of the work. But let me say thank you to you both you and Robin for bringing this work to the stage. The entire piece, Gita's transcripts/ stories and now your play, seems to be
a continuous flow, an embodiment of what the dialogues are referring to in terms of becoming HUMAN. I am reading Gita's book, slowly... It is quite wonderful.
Christine Hejinian

Dear Shelley,
Many friends of mine in different counries (now) say that theatre is dying all around
the world,everywhere.Your WONDERFUL performance yesterday is a great proof that it just can't be,never.Difficult times,probably,but as long as the world has great actors as you are,and public longing or this kind of energy as you give,theatre will live forever.Thank you so very much for the gift I got yesterday. Be blessed a lot.
Galina