Both written and performed by multi-talented Tom Dugan, Nazi Hunter — Simon Wiesenthal is not a story of revenge but one of justice. In the intimate setting of Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills, Simon Weisenthal came to life, portraying his last day in his office in Vienna before retiring. Wiesenthal, an Austrian Jewish Holocaust survivor and human rights activist, tracked down and brought to justice more than one thousand Nazi war criminals hiding around the world. With thoughtful recollection laced with a bit of humor, the grandfatherly old gentleman came to life in the setting of his office, the last remnants of his years of work packaged in cardboard boxes waiting to be shipped to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. This is an amazing story of overcoming adversity and of courage and of doing the right thing.
Tom Dugan’s father’s stories of the liberation of the Langenstein concentration camp in Germany of which his unit was a part, inspired this play and its tone. Dugan’s father wisely commented that “There are all types of people, good and bad. I don’t judge by what a group somebody belong s to, I judge by how they behave.” It was that rejection of collective guilt that drew Dugan to the Weisenthal story. The Nazi Hunter not only spent his life tracking down and bringing to justice Nazi war criminals but also defended some German and Austrian officers who refused to participate in “the final solution.”
Theatre 40
Beverly Hills High School Campus
241 Moreno Drive
Beverly Hills
310/364-3606
May 25, 2011
SC Guide