BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE was first produced at the Booth Theatre in New York and was named the best play of the 1969/70 season. Eileen Hekkart played the mother, Keir Dullea her son Don, and Blythe Danner did the part of Jill. Ralph was played by Michael Glaser. The film version, which followed three years later with Goldie Hawn in the role of Jill, was an international success. Eileen Hekkart, who also appeared in the film, won the 1972 academy award for Best Supporting Actress. The German premiere of the play was in 1971 in Berlin’s Renaissance-Theater. Victor de Kowa directed and Inge Meysel played the part of the mother. Since then, this popular play has been done almost everywhere in the world. Even a plattdeutsch version by Heide Tietjen was produced in Bremen in 1987 with the title SOMMER-VAGELS SÜND FREE. Most recently the Hamburg Komödie Winterhuder Fährhaus produced the comedy early in 1997 with Witta Pohl playing the mother.
