The one-man play “Wiesenthal,” written by and starring Tom Dugan, is scheduled for three performances April 11, 12 and 14 at the White Theatre at the Jewish Community Center (The J).
The touring off-Broadway play depicts the life of Simon Wiesenthal, who brought more than 1,100 Nazi war criminals to justice. Wiesenthal was known as the “Jewish James Bond” and the “Conscience of the Holocaust.” The play’s promotional material describes him as “an ordinary man who did extraordinary things.”
Dugan is Irish Catholic. He is frequently asked what prompted him to write the play. His wife, Amy, and their sons, Eli and Miles, are Jewish. His father was a soldier in the 83rd Infantry Division in World War II and helped liberate prisoners from the Langenstein concentration camp in Germany. He received the Bronze Battle Star and the Purple Heart.
“I wanted to write a play that someone who knew nothing about the Holocaust would appreciate, and that someone who knew everything about it would appreciate,” he said. “I tried my best not to overexplain but to delve into aspects of the Holocaust that many people feel they should already know but don’t, but are too embarrassed to ask.”
Discussion sessions for audiences are scheduled with Dugan after each performance.
“I’ve found it to be an enlightening experience for me and for the audiences,” he said. “It’s been a joyful experience and fascinating for me because of who I meet and otherwise wouldn’t have.”
One time, an unsettling question came from a 20-year-old audience member. She asked about the validity of the reported number of victims of the Holocaust. She was the great-granddaughter of Adolf Eichmann, one of the Holocaust’s main organizers.
The most important idea Dugan wants his audiences to take from the play is that it’s “a modern story identifying some of the darker aspects of humanity that we carry with us today, and it’s a cautionary tale as to what can happen if we don’t recognize the human savage within all of us.”
The play had its premiere in 2009 at the Torrance (California) Cultural Arts Center with the title “Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesenthal.” Dugan wrote it at his home office in Woodland Hills, California. Its off-Broadway premiere, with the title “Wiesenthal,” was in the fall of 2014.
He has performed the play in about 35 cities, and his next stop after Kansas City is Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills, California, from mid-May to mid-June. He hopes to continue performing the play for a long time.
“I am 56 and I play a 90-year-old, and I plan to do it until I don’t need makeup,” he said.
An unusual aspect of the play, given the subject, is that it includes a lot of humor, Dugan said.
“Because the Holocaust is such a dark story, I took quite bit of a chance and infused a lot of Wiesenthal’s humor into the script, and I’m happy to say that it’s paid off in a big way,” he said. “People appreciate the lighter sides of the play to counter the darker sides. The universal attitude of the audience after seeing ‘Wiesenthal’ is that it’s an uplifting play, not a downer.”
Dugan was born in Union, New Jersey, and raised in Winfield Park, New Jersey. He left there for Los Angeles at age 20. He studied acting at Montclair State College (now called Montclair State University) in Montclair, New Jersey.
He started acting at age 16 and started writing plays around age 40. The stage “was a place where I found my confidence,” he said, and he likes that writing plays gives him control over the process.
Dugan has written six plays, all for solo actors, and has acted in three of them. He also has a lot of experience acting as part of an ensemble.
He’s underway writing his first screenplay, an adaptation of “Wiesenthal,” for Amblin Entertainment, a film and television production company co-founded by film director Steven Spielberg.
His motivation for doing the work he does is twofold.
“I have an overwhelming passion for paying the rent, but particularly with ‘Wiesenthal’ I do feel like I’m doing something good for society,” he said. “With all the intolerance we face in our society, particularly lately, I feel like I’m keeping the vigil going for tolerance.”
‘Wiesenthal’
What: A touring Off-Broadway play about the life of Simon Wiesenthal, who brought more than 1,100 Nazi war criminals to justice. Written by and starring Tom Dugan, and directed by Jenny Sullivan. Talkbacks with Dugan are scheduled after every performance.
When: 7:30 p.m. April 11, April 12 and April 14. The play runs about 90 minutes, with no intermission.
Where: The White Theatre at the Jewish Community Center (The J), 5801 W 115th St., Overland Park, Kansas, 66211
More information: www.wiesenthaltheplay.com
Tickets: thejkc.org or 913-327-8000