Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 16, 1992 TAG: 9201150117
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF DeBELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MORAL DRAMA LEADS OFF FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS
The 1992 Norfolk Southern Festival of New Works opens this week in Theatre B with "And We Were Left Darkling," a drama set in Budapest during the final months of World War II.It will be followed by an absurdist comedy titled "White Money." Works-in- progress by four Virginia playwrights will receive staged readings during the "Virginia Theatre Works" facet of the festival, which is named for its principal financial underwriter.
One of the two principal characters in Lynn Elliott's "And We Were Left Darkling" is Adolf Eichmann, the officer who was in charge of shipping the Jews of Hungary eastward into the terrible maw of Hitler's "Final Solution." The other is the daring Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who managed to save thousands of the Nazis' intended victims.
When the Russian Army took over Budapest in January 1945, Wallenberg went to meet the commander. He disappeared, perhaps into a Russian prison, and has never been accounted for.
In his program notes, playwright Elliott says his play is "not simply a drama between the stereotypical forces of good and evil." Rather, it examines the question of why a man like Wallenberg is all but forgotten, whereas his moral opposite remains an enduring "creature of fascination" to the public.
"And We Were Left Darkling" is the winner of Mill Mountain's 1991 New Play Competition.
It will open Friday after a preview performance tonight at 7:30, and will continue through Jan. 26 in Theatre B.
Mary Best-Bova is directing the play. Ed Sala, who last appeared at Mill Mountain in its 1988 production of "Amadeus," portrays Eichmann. Wallenberg is played by David Glenn Stern. He was Peter Quince in last spring's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Mill Mountain.
"White Money" will open Jan. 31 after a preview the previous evening, and will continue through Feb. 8. It was written by Julie Jensen, who gives this synopsis:
"Ella takes an epic journey through America via trucks, television, politics, professional wrestlers, and preachers. What she discovers enlightens and corrupts her."
The play won the 1990 Award from the Fund for New American Plays. It was premiered last year by the Salt Lake Acting Company in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mill Mountain's production will be directed by Ernest Zulia.
The following plays will be given script-in-hand readings during the festival:
"Willow Garden," by Don Baker. A Catholic girl loves a Protestant boy but is killed by him for carrying his father's unborn child. Feb. 7, 10:30 p.m.
"Starful of Skies," by Suzan Holler. Five high school seniors, dependent on each other and on drugs and alcohol, arrive at graduation. Feb. 8, 10:30 p.m.
"Baby Face," by Jo Weinstein. One couple finds an unconventional solution to the question of what to do about children who carry the AIDS virus. Feb. 9, 11 a.m.
"The Ninth Step," by Tom Zeigler. A girl turns 16 on the same day her mother, whom she hasn't seen in six years, observes the anniversary of her first year in Alcoholics Anonymous. Feb. 9, 3:30 p.m.
NORFOLK SOUTHERN FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS: "And We Were Left Darkling," Jan. 17-26 (preview tonight). "White Money," Jan. 31-Feb. 8 (preview Jan. 30). Performance times are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 2 p.m. for Saturday and Sunday matinees. Seating by general admission. Tickets $9, with discounts available to students, senior citizens and groups of 15 or more. No charge for Virginia Theatre Works readings. All performances and readings in Theatre B of Mill Mountain Theatre. 342-5740.