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A revival of West L.A.’s Fountain Theatre’s play ‘The Accomplices’ (April 25th - June 14th) and a film ‘Not idly by : Peter Bergson, America and the Holocaust’ (August 26th at 5pm) to be featured at the end of April.

L.A.’s Fountain Theatre , in association with the Israeli Leadership Council (ILC), strikes back with an encore run of last season’s sold-out hit ‘The Accomplices’. New York Times reporter Bernard Weinraub’s earthshaking play is the true story of firebrand Hillel Kook, who, under the pseudonym Peter Bergson, lobbied the U.S. State Department and the American Jewish establishment to take action in rescuing European Jews from the Nazis. Steven Schub leads a great cast directed by acclaimed director Deborah Lavine for a run from  April 25 through June 14th, 2009 at West L.A.’s  Odyssey Theatre. (Directions follow) The world premiere of Pierre Sauvage’s 40 minute documentary short on Bergson will take place at the L.A. Film Festival on Sunday, April 26th at 5pm. (more information to follow)

‘The Accomplices’ tells of how the U.S. government and American Jews ultimately failed in helping European Jews fleeing the Nazis. Weinraub taps into American guilt and regret by telling the true story of Hillel Kook, who arrived in the States after a stint with resistance groups in the British Mandate Palestine and changed his name to Peter Bergson. Blocked by both the Roosevelt administration and the American Jewish establishment, Bergson took matters into his own hands, holding public rallies, taking out newspaper ads, lobbying congress...in a one man fight to raise consciousness and save the Jewish population of Europe.

About Bernard Weinbraub - A long-time reporter for The New York Times, he was a political correspondent in Vietnam, London, New Delhi and Washington D.C., including the White House, before moving to Los Angeles in 1991 to cover the film business. It was while he was based in D.C. that he was assigned to cover a documentary about Peter Bergson called Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die? by the young filmmaker Laurence Jarvik. The subject stayed with him, and a dozen years later he began work on his own play. The Accomplices went on to win a Stellar Network award, leading to its premiere in New York by The New Group in March, 2007 and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Best New Play. The West Coast premiere at The Fountain played to SRO houses for an extended, ten-week run.

The LA Film Festival : Pierre Sauvage’s ‘Not idly by: Peter Bergson, America and the Holocaust’ can be summed up by its press release “We said we didn’t know. We said we couldn’t have done anything even if we had known. Peter Bergson, a militant Jew from Palestine, led a controversial American effort to fight the Holocaust. This is his testimony.” In this unique form , we are treated to an insightful filmmaker’s vision of this legendary man

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‘The Accomplices’
Preview: April 24
Performances: April 25 - June 14
Thursdays at 8 pm: May 7, 14, 21, 28; June 4, 11
Fridays at 8 pm: April 24 (preview); May 1, 8, 15, 22, 29; June 5, 12
Saturdays at 8 pm: April 25; May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; June 6, 13
Sundays at 2 pm: April 26; May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31; June 7, 14

Location:
Odyssey Theatre
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90025

For more info :
Call (323) 663-1525 or visit www.FountainTheatre.com  

TICKETS are generally $30.00.

For the Los Angel Film Festival, contact Laemmle's Music Halles
9036 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA or call Tickets: www.lajfilmfest.org  (800) 838-3006

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