September 12 – October 1, 2006
Studio 5 at the Walnut Street Theatre
New City Stage Company is proud to announce a PHILADELPHIA PREMIERE of Angel: A Nightmare in Two Acts by acclaimed playwright Jo Davidsmeyer. Based on the harrowing account of Auschwitz survivor Olga Lengyel, the play tells the true-life story and trial of Irma Grese, the “blonde Angel of Auschwitz”. Using the setting of the Holocaust the play explores contemporary values, the question of personal responsibility versus universal guilt, and the seductive appeal of evil.
Angel: A Nightmare in Two Acts is a drama based on the trial and execution of real-life Nazi war criminal Irma Grese. Grese became a concentration camp guard at the age of sixteen, was prosecuted by the British in the Belsen trials, and was executed at the age of 21 for her crimes against humanity. A strikingly beautiful woman, she was dubbed by the international press as “The Blonde Angel of Auschwitz.” During the play, Irma’s prosecutor falls under her fatal charms. He is drawn, along with the audience, down into a private nightmare where the tables are turned and he becomes the accused. Also dragged into the nightmare is Olga Lengyel, a survivor of Auschwitz, who teaches the prosecutor a lesson about dignity and survival. |
