This past week, I was able to see THE ACCOMPLICES at the Fountain Theatre. Congratulations to a stellar cast, strong director and to the producer and theatre for taking on such a moving, powerful project about relatively unknown Jewish activist Hillel Kook (aka Peter Bergson). It’s always good to celebrate success stories; in this case where Bernard Weinraub took a play writing class under the direction of Simon Levy at UCLA.  Afterwards, the play took wings, and was eventually produced in New York where it won a Stellar Netwark award and earned a Drama Desk nomination for Best New Play. And now here it has come full circle back to Los Angeles. If you are able, catch a performance of this thought-provoking piece of theatre. It runs through September 14th.

What made the night even more interesting for me was… I was the token goy (I say this with a smile on my face) as the house was mainly made up of members from the Jewish American Chamber of Commerce. This diversity within the room gave me a unique perspective, especially as it related to the content of the play. It was one thing to realize that FDR was indifferent to the plight of the Jews during WWII, but the reluctance of the Jewish establishment and Rabbi Stephen Wise to confront or challenge FDR and Congress - well…the playwright says it remains, even now, far more delicate and embarrassing for American Jews. Personally, as a human being, I was embarrassed to realize that all of us were accomplices - full well knowing what the truth was and not acting upon it. And while Weinraub dealt with the issue of ethnic cleansing, it also struck a nerve for me as our country currently deals with the delicate issue of immigration, which seems to have been going on since the birth of this nation.

There is a lot to chew on regarding this play, and you leave the theatre mulling it over - leaving with more questions than answers. The other side note to all of this is…I’m now dating a Jew who happens to be a Christian. This lovely lass tells me that Jewish blood has nothing to do with her faith; it is who she is. Her religious faith though is Christianity. What made a greater impact on me though was when she shared about 23 of her relatives dying - most of them at the Treblinka “extermination” camp during WWII. “Hitler wanted to make sure that I was never born,” is how she put it. That story rolled about in my head as I watched Peter Bergson fight his way through bureaucratic red tape. Knowing that many, many people were dying and those in the position of power refused to do anything about it…until it was almost entirely too late.

Which brings me to my other “blog” point. Besides being involved in productions as time permits, I love going to the theatre, because inevitably I will be fortunate to meet a fellow thespian who I know or someone related to this crazy thing we call theatre in Los Angeles. We are all accomplices in wanting to do wonderful stage work. Well…at this performance, LA WEEKLY theatre editor Steven Leigh Morris and I chatted for a while. I don’t always agree with what Steven writes as a theatre critic; however, I do respect what he has to say, as he is intelligent, knowledgeable and a fervent advocate for our work in this spread out city. We’re lucky to have him fight the good fight for us.

As most folks know, “The Guide” in the LA TIMES has been eliminated. Theatre-goers are having more difficulty in finding clear, comprehensive listings anywhere. The LA WEEKLY used to post reviews on Monday evenings, but with staff reductions and website upgrades, that’s become an excessive burden on the remaining staff. They’re now back to posting new theatre reviews the same day as the print edition (Thursday). As Steven told me, “Our theatres and readers deserve more timeliness than that.” So…with the full support of the WEEKLY, Steven is writing a blog - http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/stage-news. What he has done is create a community bulletin board of sorts, and if you hit the READ ON tab at the bottom of the first section, it will take you directly to the comprehensive listings, including items that might have been cut for space in the print edition. And…the posting on Monday will include New Reviews seen over that weekend.

Please support LA theatre. Go see a show where you’ve never been before. And please support Steven as he embarks on this thing we call blogging to help elevate the LA WEEKLY, our theatre community and our theatre audiences.

Blessings.

Mark Kinsey Stephenson
LA Stage Blogger