Playing Leni (co-authored with John Stanton)

A fictionalized account of the capture and arrest of Leni Riefenstahl, filmmaker and propagandist for the Third Reich during World War II. Her captor, an unnamed Allied soldier, must transport Riefenstahl to a detention center. Riefenstahl, however, believes this “trip through the countryside” is the perfect opportunity to create her cinematic masterwork. Writing and rewriting her story as they travel,...
A fictionalized account of the capture and arrest of Leni Riefenstahl, filmmaker and propagandist for the Third Reich during World War II. Her captor, an unnamed Allied soldier, must transport Riefenstahl to a detention center. Riefenstahl, however, believes this “trip through the countryside” is the perfect opportunity to create her cinematic masterwork. Writing and rewriting her story as they travel, Riefenstahl comes face to face with the inescapable truths of war, privation, and death camps. The mystery soldier becomes jailer, confessor, and actor in Riefenstahl’s unending pursuit to produce, direct, and edit each piece of her life—blurring the lines between art and reality, ambition and conscience, innocence and culpability.
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Playing Leni (co-authored with John Stanton)

Development History

  • Workshop
    ,
    Madhouse Theater
    ,
    2010
  • Workshop
    ,
    Spark Showcase
    ,
    2010
  • Workshop
    ,
    InterAct Theatre Company
    ,
    1999
  • Reading
    ,
    Delaware Division of the Arts
    ,
    1998

Production History

  • Professional
    ,
    Madhouse Theater
    ,
    2011

Awards

Selection
,
Best Original Script
,
Phindie
,
2011
Winner
,
Hotel Obligado Audience Choice for New Work
,
Spark Showcase
,
2010