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Compelling ‘Accomplices’ reprised at Odyssey Theatre
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Ever wondered just what the American government did and didn’t do to help European Jews during World War II? Ever heard about Peter Bergson and his desperate rescue campaign? That’s the subject of The Accomplices by Bernard Weinraub, which sold-out at the Fountain Theatre last summer. The Fountain production is being reprised at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and is proving so popular it’s been extended through June 14.
Deborah LaVine skillfully directs a fine ensemble cast, headed by Steven Schub in an intense, passionate performance as the heroic Bergson. He gets solid support, notably from Dennis Gersten in a dual role as screenwriter Ben Hecht and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., Time Winters in a dead-on impression of FDR, and Annika Marks as Betty, a neighbor of Bergson's whose life is changed when she gets involved in his cause.
I recently took the opportunity to ask Weinraub, a former New York Times political reporter, to talk about the play.
JY: At this point, even Jewish theatregoers may say, "Oy, another Holocaust drama."
BW: This is a play set in Washington, DC, and New York. It's not a “Holocaust drama." It's not set in the extermination camps or in Europe. We don't see any Germans. We don’t see any victims. I like to think of it as a political drama.
JY: What most compelled you to write the play?
BW: To be honest, what compelled me to write the play was that the story was fairly unknown, insofar as I was concerned. The subject of the Government's policies and Jewish fear and indifference fascinated me. And it somehow seemed relevant to today.
JY: What was the most surprising or shocking thing you learned in doing the research?
BW: The most shocking thing was the appalling anti-Semitism on the part of the State Department, which really means the Roosevelt Administration. It wasn’t overt. It was just there. And it led to terrible consequences. And equally shocking was the timidity of many in the Jewish establishment. That timidity, coupled with their fear of Peter Bergson and his group for "making waves," is really a black mark against Jewish leaders, powerful publishers and Government officials. All these people could and should have done so much more.
JY: As a journalist/playwright myself, I'd like to know how you made the transition—or how you go back and forth, if that's the case.
BW: The transition was—and is—hard. Perhaps the major problem for me was that, as a journalist, I was always dealing with facts. You report what you see and what you learn. Drama is, of course, something else. You're not doing a documentary. You're writing a two-hour play that, you hope, will be compelling and meaningful. The result is you have to turn the facts into a drama. Sometimes the facts don't conform to a drama. A screenwriter told me, "you do what you have to do." She was right. What makes good journalism doesn't necessarily make good drama. So you do what you have to do.
Through June 14: The Accomplices
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
323-663-1525
Also at the Odyssey: If you missed Caryl Churchill’s A Number at Rude Guerrilla recently, you can catch this British import here through June 21.
More from Jordan:
Klezmer film and concert opens San Diego Jewish Arts Festival
How Mark Twain’s lost play got produced
‘The Laramie Project’ at Theatre Out in Fullerton
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