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Carolyn German directs Nashville actress Keri Pagetta in a workshop production of Edward Morris' The Passion of Ethel Rosenberg, to be performed Saturday, March 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the "Celebrate" venue at Atmalogy Café and Event Space, 2320 West End Avenue. Tickets are $10 at the door, but reservations are strongly suggested by calling (615) 874-8715.
Executed as a Russian spy on June 19, 1953, Ethel Rosenberg could have turned over names of fellow Communists and Communist sympathizers to save herself.
Morris, a Nashville journalist and playwright, says he was moved to learn more about Rosenberg because of the questions that arose from the puzzling choices she made during the much-hyped and sensationalized trial that followed the arrest of her husband, Julius Rosenberg.
"I found myself wondering what sort of woman would do this?" Morris explains. "Was she a bad mother? A political zealot? An overly adoring wife? And, more to the point, was she even guilty? Here was a woman who had a clear path to staying alive and who knew she would be orphaning her two cherished sons, yet who followed her husband unhesitatingly to the electric chair in Sing Sing Prison."
German, a 2013 First Night Honoree, brings 35 years of professional theater experience to the project: "I found my found myself immediately engaged, from the first reading of the first draft of the script. Not only are the nuances of her life rich with story, but it is amazing how much information had been overshadowed by the politics of the early 1950's."
Born to immigrant parents on New York's Lower East Side, Ethel Greenglass aspired to be an actor and singer-and demonstrated significant talent for both. But working in a shipping company sweatshop drew her instead into labor organizing and ultimately into the Communist party. Her politics also led her to a passionate romance with political activist Julius Rosenberg. Throughout and after World War II, the Rosenbergs continued their work with the party. When the Cold War ended America's relationship of convenience with Russia, American Communists and their sympathizers were hounded and hunted down by the FBI. The Rosenbergs were betrayed by Ethel's own brother, David Greenglass.
The workshop is produced by Theater Craft Inc., which is well-known for its work in bringing one-person show to the stage.
A favorite with Nashville theater audiences (she's appeared on virtually every local stage, including Nashville Repertory Theater, Tennessee Women's Theater Project, Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theater and Circle Players), Pagetta is excited to bring the story to life.
"As an actor, I've always been attracted to complex characters whose motives aren't easily discernible and who possess a depth that requires the audience to go on a journey of discovery," she says. "I didn't know anything about Ethel before I read the script, and I found someone I was immediately fascinated by, whose life begs the question: How does someone go from being a secretary and housewife to being tried for espionage? I had to find out."
The play's timeliness in these unsettled political times may be of particular interest to audiences, Morris suggests.
The Passion of Ethel Rosenberg is faithful to the facts of case as it recounts Rosenberg's life as she might have told it to the world had she been given the chance, Morris says. play is particularly revelant in any politically charged era, in which rampant suspicious can override reason. Morris notes the play is relevant to any politically charged era in which rampant suspicion overrides reason.
"This play shines a light on the horrors of political hysteria that can erupt and imperil any frightened society," he says.
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