Director's Notes
Playwright Wallace Shawn begins this evening's play with Lemon's suggestion that Treblinka, the World War II Nazi concentration camp, was apparently admirably organized and efficiently operated to kill the Jews. Shawn then goes on to show us how it is possible that such an approving attitude could be found in our enlightened society, and in doing so he focuses on our culture's seeming lack of compassion and our expedient rationale in defending our "way of life"—even at the expense of killing.
Although this is an incriminating and unpleasant premise, Shawn argues that it is an accurate reflection of our times and that we need to examine the premise and decide for ourselves how accurate it is and what we, not the playwright, intend to do about it.
For a number of years I have looked at this script and reluctantly placed it back on the shelf, being fearful of the extraordinary demands it places on designers, actors, directors, and audience. It now seems to me that in spite of these risks, the history of our country's past few years warrants a production of Shawn's play in our University Theatre.
For those who are interested, Wallace Shawn has written lengthy notes on the content of his play, why he chose to write it, and to write it as he did. These notes are included in the program. We hope that you will find his play and notes as stimulating as we have.
Wayne Loui
November, 1993