THE FOUNTAIN THEATRE PRESENTS
THE WEST COAST PREMIERE OF
"THE ACCOMPLICES"

BY BERNARD WEINRAUB.
Nominated by N.Y. Drama Desk as Best New Play.

LOS ANGELES, CA - What the U.S. government and American Jews did - and didn't - do to help Jews fleeing the Nazis is the subject of 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).  Performances take place July 19 through August 24 at The Fountain Theatre in Hollywood, with low-priced previews beginning July 10.

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.

"In today's culture, many people don't believe the individual has a voice," comments LaVine. "Bergson's story shows that the individual can make a difference.  The backdrop is the fight to save the Jews during World War II, but it's a story about one man pitting himself against the machinations of the power elite."

Weinraub was a political reporter based in Washington D.C. when he was assigned to cover a documentary called Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die? by the young filmmaker Laurence Jarvik. "I became personally interested in the story," he explains.  "Some of the men who had been in Bergson's group were living in New York at the time and I began interviewing them, but I wasn't sure where I would go with it. Then I came to L.A. years later and took a playwriting course at UCLA. It was taught by The Fountain Theatre's Simon Levy, and there I wrote the first scene of what was to become The Accomplices."

The finished play won a Stellar Network award, which led to its premiere in New York by The New Group in March, 2007 and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Best New Play.  It had its second production at the GableStage at the Biltmore in Coral Gables, Florida. "[Weinraub] shows the makings of a forceful political scribe," wrote Daily Variety, noting the "unwavering intelligence" of The Accomplices. "This is a story that needs to be told, and Weinraub does so with moving clarity," agreed Time Out New York. Said the Jerusalem Post, "[Weinraub's] riveting play has the ability to tell this story to an audience that may never crack open a history book. In resurrecting this confrontation for the stage, he has tapped into a message that is as timely as it is dramatic."

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.

A long-time reporter for The New York Times, Bernard Weinraub was a correspondent in Vietnam, London, New Delhi and Washington D.C. where he covered politics as well as the White House for several years under Presidents Reagan and Bush. In 1991 he moved to Los Angeles to cover the film business.  Weinraub's second play, Above the Fold, was recently accepted by New York Stage & Film for its 2008 Reading Festival, part of the Powerhouse Theater Festival at Vassar this summer.

Deborah LaVine is a multiple award-winning director whose recent work includes Leipzig by playwright Wendy Graf at the Strasberg Theatre Center; A Streetcar Named Desire performed in American Sign Language with voice interpretation at Deaf West Theater (Ovation Award for Outstanding Dramatic Production); What Can I Do With My Heart starring Susan Hegerty at the Edinburgh Festival; and Night of the Black Cat performed as a cabaret at Edgemar Center for the Arts (winner, Best Theater Performance from L.A. Music Awards).  Other direction credits include Kindertransport and A Shayna Maidel (The Tiffany Theater); Seventh Monarch (Road Theatre); and productions for the Odyssey Theater Ensemble, Mark Taper Forum, Bay Area Playwright's Festival, and many other companies. Deborah is currently the co-program director of the Film Directing Program at California Institute of the Arts (CALARTS).

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. 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 the U.S. Premiere of Athol Fugard's Victory, the Fountain's Off-Broadway production of Fugard's 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, and the making of Sweet Nothing in my Ear into a television movie that aired on CBS-TV's "Hallmark Hall of Fame."

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.

The Accomplices opens for press on July 19, with performances Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through August 24. Six previews are scheduled on Wednesday, July 16 at 8 pm; Thursdays, July 10 and 17 at 8 pm; Friday, July 18 at 8 pm; Saturday July 12 at 8 pm; and Sunday July 13 at 2 pm. Tickets are $25.00 on Thursdays and Fridays and $28.00on Saturdays and Sundays, except opening night (July 19), which is $30.00 and previews which are $15.00. On Thursdays and Fridays only, students with ID are $18.00  and seniors $23.00. The Fountain Theatre is located at 5060 Fountain Avenue (at Normandie) in Los Angeles. Secure, on-site parking is available for $5.00.  The Fountain Theatre is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible.  For reservations and information, call (323) 663-1525 or go to www.FountainTheatre.com.