The Accomplices

Peter Henry as Rabbi Wise

at the Fountain Theatre


The Play


Playwright Bernard Weinraub

 

THE ACCOMPLICES by former New York Times political reporter Bernard Weinraub. Deborah LaVine directs the West Coast premiere of the New York Drama Desk-nominated play that is based on the true story of Jewish activist Hillel Kook aka Peter Bergson.

In 1940, Hillel Kook arrived in the U.S. fresh from the underground resistance in Palestine. Changing his name to Peter Bergson, he sought aid for the rescue of European Jews from the Nazis. Shocked to find himself blocked by both the Roosevelt administration and the Jewish establishment, Bergson spearheaded an extraordinary campaign of public rallies, hard-hitting newspaper advertisements and lobbying in Congress that forced America to confront the Holocaust.

Figuring prominently in the play are such historical figures as FDR; U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long, who had jurisdiction over immigration and refugee problems during World War II; and American Jewish leader Rabbi Stephen Wise who found himself torn between nationalism and cultural/religious identity.

The result is a blistering account of Bergson’s fight to save millions – and of the conspiracy of silence and inaction that continues to haunt us to this day.

The cast of The Accomplices includes Steven Schub as Peter Bergson; William Dennis Hurley as fellow Zionist Samuel Merlin; James Harper as FDR; Brian Carpenter as Breckinridge Long; Gregory G. Giles as FDR advisor Sam Rosenman; Dennis Gersten as playwright and screenwriter Ben Hecht; and Peter Henry Schroeder as Rabbi Wise. Also in the cast are Cheryl Dooley, Kirsten Kollender, Stephen Marshall and Donne McRae.

Set Design for The Accomplices is by Travis Gale Lewis; Lighting Design is by Ken Booth; Costume Design is by Shon LeBlanc; Sound Design by David B. Marling; Props are by Erin Treanor; Dialect Coach is JB Blanc; Production Stage Manager is Jeremy A. Levin; Simon Levy and Deborah Lawlor produce.

Previews begin July 3 with the official opening on July 12. Performances through July 24 at The Fountain Theatre in Hollywood, CA.

 

Comments are closed.