Tony Kushner’s “A Bright Room Called Day,” aims to examine Berlin in pre-WWII times, while making the plot points relevant to today.
“Unlike a lot of stories involving Nazis, it’s not a tale about wartime heroics or brave national leaders; it’s just everyday people trying to cope, deal and understand,” Director Kevin Inouye said.
The plot of this play revolves around the life and friends of Agnes Eggling, an actress living in the wake of the Weimar Republic’s fall in 1930s Berlin, whose character is being played by UW Theatre and Communications student Bailey Patterson.
This production shows moments in the life led by Agnes as well as interruptions from another character living in 1980s America throughout the play.
“[Agnes] is the Everyman of 1930s Berlin, so we look back at what people in Germany in WWII and we think, ‘How could so many people let what happened happen?’” Patterson said. “This is the story that sort of explains why.”
Productions such as this come forth in times of societal and political tumult, yet the events therein don’t appear out of thin air. There has to be a background to the rising tensions being talked about.
“It’s not just what happened in the buildup of how the Nazis came to power; [it’s the] story about Nazis before the war even starts,” Inouye said.
Having insight to scenarios that may very likely have taken place during that time allows us to gain a form of understanding on how the world-changing issues arise.
“There’s stuff in this show that has such strong echoes right now, [especially with the] obvious issues of the alt right neo-Nazi movement that has people holding Nazi rallies in the U.S., the same way that they were in Germany in the 1930s,” said Inouye.
By introducing this play to the UW Theatre and Dance production season once again, issues of white supremacy as well as discussions on sexuality that were evident in the early-to-mid 20th century can be brought to the forefront through theatre.
Issues regarding sexual identity come into play through UW Theatre major Daniel Daigle’s character, Gregor Bazwald (Baz), an employee of the Institute for Human Sexuality, which is the equivalent to modern day Planned Parenthood.
“[Baz] just is trying to do what he can for the Institute because he believes that sexuality is something that should be free and something that should be embraced, because he is a homosexual, which gives him a very unique perspective for the time,” Daigle said.
Things have changed since the 1930s in the queer community for the better – giving members of society a voice.
“1932 [was] a very different time for the queer community,” Daigle said. “It’s been a lot of fun trying to find the parallels from my experience because I’m also gay [and able to see] what it was like for someone during the 1930s with Hitler coming to power.”
One of the problems faced within the plot is the negligence people exercise by not taking a stand.
“My character in the show, by the end, is very apathetic towards politics and doesn’t really want to get involved and I think that now, in our current political climate, it’s very easy to do the same thing,” Patterson said.
With individuals taking the opportunity to raise questions at the local political level and even the national level, changes can be and are being made to benefit people that resemble the character of Baz and other groups who feel oppressed.
“Times are hard and times will always be hard, so we shouldn’t necessarily worry about ‘Oh, how are we going to persevere?’” Daigle said. “Know that we have persevered and we can persevere and we always will persevere. That’s just what humans do.”
“A Bright Room Called Day” will be in production from Feb. 6 to 10, in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts Thrust Theatre. All showtimes will be presented at 7:30 p.m., with tickets being $7 for students, $11 for seniors and $14 for the public.
