THE ACCOMPLICES Comes To The Fountain Theater This April

This April, the critically acclaimed, multiple award-winning Fountain Theatre brings back last season's sold-out production of The Accomplices by former New York Times political reporter Bernard Weinraub. The true story of firebrand Peter Bergson, who shook up the U.S. State Department and the American Jewish establishment in his fight to rescue European Jews from the Nazis, is back with Steven Schub heading the cast ("a dynamic, impassioned portrayal" - Buzzine) and director Deborah LaVine at the helm ("Lavine skillfully melds a fine cast into a gripping production" - LA Weekly). The Fountain Theatre production, presented in association with the Israeli Leadership Council (ILC), re-opens at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A. for a limited guest engagement April 25 through June 14. One low-priced preview takes place on April 24.

What the U.S. government and American Jews did - and didn't - do to help Jews fleeing the Nazis is the subject of Weinraub's provocative new play based on true events. 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 in his one-man fight to save millions and end the conspiracy of silence and inaction that continues to haunt us to this day.

"For many years this remained a little-known footnote in American history," comments Fountain Theatre artistic director Stephen Sachs. "It's a fascinating story that casts U.S. foreign policy during World War II in a surprising light."

A long-time reporter for The New York Times, Bernard Weinraub was a political correspondent in Vietnam, London, New Delhi and Washington D.C., including the White House, before moving to Los Angeles in 1991 to cover the film business. It was while he was based in D.C. that he was assigned to cover a documentary about Peter Bergson called Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die? by the young filmmaker Laurence Jarvik. The subject stayed with him, and a dozen years later he began work on his own play. The Accomplices went on to win a Stellar Network award, leading to its premiere in New York by The New Group in March, 2007 and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Best New Play. The West Coast premiere at The Fountain played to SRO houses for an extended, ten-week run. "Weinraub brings a seldom-dramatized chapter of history to vivid life... a consistently lucid and fast-paced production" wrote theater critic Don Shirley in LA Citybeat. "GO!," agreed the LA Weekly: "a gripping production." The Hollywood Reporter called The Fountain Theatre production of The Accomplices "A powerful play that will get your blood racing and your brain thinking, skillfully acted and directed."

Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in Bergson's story. The Fountain re-opening is scheduled to coincide with the observance of Holocaust Remembrance Week. That same weekend, Pierre Sauvage's documentary short about Bergson, Not Idly By - Peter Bergson, America and the Holocaust, premieres as part of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival, and this summer will see the release of Against the Tide, a documentary narrated by Dustin Hoffman. In 2003, David S. Wyman and Rafael Medoff's book, "A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America and the Holocaust" included previously unpublished letters, including a scathing indictment of the Roosevelt administration's inaction by a Treasury Department official.

The Fountain Theatre cast includes Steven Schub as Peter Bergson; William Dennis Hurley as fellow Zionist Samuel Merlin; Time Winters as FDR; Brian Carpenter as Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long; Gregory G. Giles as FDR advisor Sam Rosenman; Dennis Gersten as playwright and screenwriter Ben Hecht; and Malachi Throne as Rabbi Stephen Wise. Also in the cast are Elizabeth Karr, Annika Marks, Stephen Marshall and Donne McRae. Set Design for The Accomplices is by Scott Siedman; Lighting Design is by Christian Epps; Costume Design is by Shon LeBlanc; Sound Design is by David B. Marling; Props are by Dean Coleman; Dialect Coach is JB Blanc; Production Stage Manager is Jeremy A. Levin; and Stephen Sachs produces.

Housed in a charming two-story complex in Hollywood, California, The Fountain Theatre is one of the most successful intimate theaters in Los Angeles, providing a nurturing, creative home for multi-ethnic theater and dance artists. Activities include a year-round season of fully produced new and established plays; The Fountain's bi-weekly Forever Flamenco! series, now in its seventh year; a New Plays developmental series; Educational Outreach Programs; and off-site presentations/tours. Fountain Theatre productions have won more than 160 awards for all areas of production, performance, and design, and The Fountain Theatre is the only intimate theater to win the Ovation Award for Best Production of a Play four times. Fountain projects have been seen in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Florida, New Jersey, Minneapolis and Edinburgh. Recent highlights include its Off-Broadway production of Exits and Entrances in New York, worldwide readings/productions/tours of What I Heard About Iraq, the Ovation Award-winning Joe Turner's Come and Gone, the three-city tour of Sonidos Gitanos, the making of Sweet Nothing in my Ear into a movie for TV on CBS, and the recent Canadian premiere of Miss Julie: Freedom Summer in Vancouver and Toronto. The Fountain has been honored with a Certificate of Appreciation from the Los Angeles City Council for demonstrating years of artistic excellence and "enhancing the cultural life of Los Angeles." For its productions in 2008 of Victory by Athol Fugard and Gem of the Ocean by August Wilson, The Fountain Theatre was recently honored with four Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards and is currently nominated for four LA Weekly Awards.

The mission of the Israeli Leadership Council is to fortify and enhance a productive and continuous relationship between Israeli-Americans and the State of Israel through community empowerment, activism and philanthropy. This production is sponsored by Debbie and Naty Saidoff.

The Accomplices opens on April 25, with performances Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through June 14. One preview performance is scheduled on Friday, April 24 at 8 pm. Tickets are $30.00, except the preview which is $15.00. The Odyssey Theatre is located at 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. in West Los Angeles. For reservations and information, call (323) 663-1525 or go to www.FountainTheatre.com.

 

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