Auteur filmmaker Henry Jaglom has taken a page out of his father's life for his latest play and, quite possibly, next film, "Train to Zakopane," which opens at the Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica, California, on Oct. 24. "Henry has never done anything quite so personal," notes Tanna Frederick, who stars in the drama. "He's never done a personal story about his parents. He's always been protective of them. I think this is a very challenging and eye-opening jump for him."

The story starts on a train trip to Warsaw, Poland, in 1928, when Jaglom senior (played by South African actor Mike Falkow) met a bewitching Polish nurse — who turned out to be a raging anti-Semite. The latter is Frederick's role. "The first two weeks of rehearsals, I actually got physically ill when I would say lines like 'I can smell a Jew a kilometer away.' But the truth is that actually happened; a human being actually said that. And Henry's father actually had a vendetta," the actress explains. "He decided that he was going to 'kiss the girl,' i.e., make love to her and then tell her he was Jewish, so it was kind of hatred and vindictiveness on both sides — and then love happens."

For Frederick, who has been Jaglom's muse through movies including "Hollywood Dreams" and "Irene in Time," playing the nurse represented one of the biggest challenges of her career.

"This is probably one of the hardest, hardest parts because it's a true story — and because, you know, the subject matter of prejudice and hatred and love. This is not Holocaust. This is pre-World War II. Nevertheless, it was a very anti-Semitic time," continues the self-proclaimed open-minded pacifist. "Coming from Iowa and being taught never to judge — this goes against everything in my being. We were taught acceptance. But I have to make this character as real as possible. If people don't know where my character is coming from, I haven't done my job. Why did this girl feel this way?"

Not surprisingly, Frederick says she has gained newfound respect for "the actors in 'Schindler's List' and 'Inglourious Basterds' who play these unsympathetic characters and make them real, which is a very difficult thing."

According to the red-haired indie film favorite, Jaglom and the team are battening down for controversy. "I was like, 'Henry, if nobody in this town hires me after this, I will kill you.' He has said it, too: 'Some people are really going to hate you for this material.' But I think this material is genius."

Jaglom, she says, originally wrote "Train to Zakopane" as a film, and she believes he will shoot it at some point after its stage run is complete. "It's going to be an amazing film. This is a story that has haunted Henry so long and haunted his father. His father said it's the only thing in his life he felt ashamed of."

She is quick to add, however, that the story leaves grounds for belief that something good may happen. "I've realized as an actress that I want to do things that inspire people and want people to leave with a sort of shift in their mindset and their lives — a little shift for the better," she says. "That Henry sheds light on love and the complexities of that is one of my favorite things about it, how love really wins out in the end. I feel, with all that's going on globally these days, we need to have the hope in ourselves as human beings and our abilities to change, versus artillery," she says with a slight rueful laugh. "This play is more than romantic; it's hopeful."