Curtain Call

E'inding Forgiveness?

In Arje Shaw's "The Gathering," President Reagan's visit to Bitburg Cemetery
causes conflict for three generations of an American Jewish family.

ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER
Special to the Jewish. News

I

n 1985, when President Ronald
Reagan honored German war
dead with a visit to Biturg
Cemetery, a German burial
ground holding the remains of notori-
ous Waffen SS troops, American Jews
were outraged. How could an
American president be so insensitive?
Or, was it time to put the past behind
us, to no longer blame present-day
Germans for the sins of their fathers
and grandfathers.
This is one of the questions raised
in Arje Shaw's provocative new play,
The Gathering, currently being pre-
sented by the Jewish Repertory
Theatre in New York City.
When the play opens, the elderly
Gabriel Stern (Theodore Bikel) and
his grandson Michael are sitting at a
chess table, talking about Michael's
upcoming bar mitzvah. Michael's
mother Diane enters the apartment to
share the good news that she's been
accepted as a doctoral candidate. To
celebrate, she decides to cook a
Shabbos meal for the family. Her hus-
band, Stuart, a speechwriter for
Reagan, is due home soon from
Washington, D.C.
But the dinner turns out to be any-
thing but celebratory. When Stuart
reveals Reagan will be making an
appearance at Bitburg with Chancellor
Helmut Kohl, Gabriel, a Holocaust
survivor, is outraged. The bitterness
between Stuart and Gabriel grows,
revealing deep unresolved wounds.
In protest, Gabriel takes Michael to
Bitburg, insisting that his grandson
wear a tallit and recite his Torah por-
tion graveside. Asked to leave the
premises by a young German guard,
Gabriel refuses, and the two engage in
an emotional discussion about who
should bear the responsibility for
World War II atrocities. When Stuart
and Diane show up, a heated argu-
ment breaks out, and Gabriel's
Holocaust secrets surface.
The play, Shaw notes, has stirred
up a lot of emotion, and impacts peo-
ple differently. "People are very dis-

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1999

92 Detroit Jewish News

Jesse Adam Eisenberg (Michael), Theodore

turbed by that piece of history. If
someone wants to blame all Germans,
it doesn't solve anything.
"I can't tell a Holocaust survivor to
forgive a young German. When you
have been through that experience, it's
hard to find forgiveness.
"But the younger generation of
Germans is paying for the deeds of
their grandfathers. They are carrying
the burden.
Shaw based the Gabriel character
on his own father. "My father escaped
from Poland in 1939, leaving his
mother and sister behind," he says.
"This obviously had a profound effect
on him."
The playwright, who was born in
Tashkent, Russia, in 1941, moved to

I)

Bikel (Gabriel) and Peter Hermann (German guard) in Arje Shaw's "The Gathering."

the United States at age 8. When he
began writing The Gathering seven
years ago, the Bitburg incident was
not the primary issue he wanted to
raise.
"I wanted to focus on the conflict
between fathers and sons," he says. "In
my mind, this is not a Holocaust
story, but rather a play about men
who were abandoned emotionally by
their fathers. Their role models were
weak and they resolve their problems
through force or aggression.
"Although the story weaves fact and
fiction, the family dynamics are close
to my own family situation. While my
father made sacrifices, he was absent
emotionally."
Whatever message the audience

takes away, Shaw is thrilled with the
rave reviews and the response of the-
atergoers. "There is a lot of laughing
and crying going on," he says. "It is
very satisfying knowing that no one
leaves the theater without feeling
moved in some way."

The Gathering takes the stage
at Playhouse 91, 316 East 91st
Street, New York City.
Performances are 8 p.m.
Tuesdays-Thursdays and
Saturdays and 7 p.m. Sundays,
with matinees at 2 p.m.
Wednesdays and Sundays.
Tickets are $35. (212) 831-2000.

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