By Eva Trieger
SAN DIEGO — Many powerful lessons are learned first-hand. Others are absorbed through observation and osmosis. Still, other maxims are taught us by loved ones and internalized until they become like a codon in our own discrete DNA.
Wiesenthal a one-man play conveys many things, but most pointedly, a rejection of collective guilt. Tom Dugan, an Irish Catholic boy from New Jersey, recalled his father, a WWII veteran as one of the men in Patton’s 83rd division. Dugan’s father was one of the soldiers who liberated the inmates of a Nazi work camp, along the way earning a purple heart for being wounded in combat.
The shock and horror of the magnitude and boundless inhumanity remained with Dugan’s father the rest of his life, as did the shrapnel in his hip. The soldier told his son that “there are good Germans and there are bad Germans” and the former is not culpable for the latter’s egregious behaviors. Tom Dugan learned that he must judge the individual, not the group.
In 2005, Simon Wiesenthal passed away. Dugan read the obituary and found his father’s words and sentiments on the printed page. He began to research Wiesenthal and became fascinated with this man who took on the task of finding the barbaric individuals, delivering retribution while maintaining his humor, dignity and direction.
Relying on archivist, Adair Klein of the Museum of Tolerance, Dugan was able to access the unpolished transcripts and original interviews that had not been publicly shared. The writer then asked director Jenny Sullivan to join the project which artfully and sensitively provides insight into Wiesenthal’s eluding death while under Nazi oppression.
Dugan a playwright and actor, winner of the 2003 Inland Theater League Best Actor Award and nominations for the Los Angeles Ovation Award, undertook a transformation to bring Wiesenthal and his charismatic persona to the stage. Donning a padded suit to create an ample frame, acquiring an Austro-Hungarian accent, shaving his head (with trepidation!), he wrote a script of the many stories and experiences.
Audiences have been and continue to be awed, and nearly 90 percent stay to participate in nightly talk backs following performances. Dugan learned even more about his subject from the playgoers, and their candid responses to his show. In one audience a young woman asked if Dugan’s recounting was accurate. Wasn’t the Holocaust greatly exaggerated, she wanted to know. It turned out that this woman was the great granddaughter of Adolf Eichmann. Not surprising that she had been taught to believe something different.
Tom Dugan is currently performing at the Stage Door Theater in Coral Springs, Florida through March 16th. After that, his show will move to the New World Stages, an off Broadway theater in New York City, where he hopes the run will continue until he “no longer needs old age make up anymore!”
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Eva Trieger is a freelance writer specializing in the cultural arts. She may be contacted at eva.trieger@sdjewishword.com
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