Playing Leni (co-authored with John Stanton)

by David Robson

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

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

Production History

  • Type Professional, Organization Madhouse Theater, Year 2011

Awards

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