Leni and Cheap Beer

So, I’m at Day 3 of Playlabs – which is pretty great – imagine some 50 theater artists from all over the world (there’s a group here from Japan) locked up in university dorms in Minnesota working on theater (picture loud music and cheap beer)– but there’s also something odd in the air – most of the plays are about war, or about the artists responsibility during war – and not the war we’re currently in, but old wars – World War 1, WW2, etc. – interesting that war is the subject that everyone is struggling with.

I’m working on a controversial piece about Leni Riefenstahl, who is considered by many to be one of the great innovative directors of all time, by others to be a groundbreaking feminist, and by others to be a Nazi sympathizer and one of the reasons that Hitler’s propaganda was so successful. The play doesn’t mean to celebrate or judge her, but just to examine who she was – the playwright is re-writing every day, so we’ll see where this all lands.