'Death and the Maiden' Oct. 27-30

By John Hickey and Robert Walling
"Death and the Maiden," at the College Theatre Oct. 28, 29 and 30, brings us face to face with dilemmas of human experience that we hope to never face in person.

The play involves three characters. Gerardo Escobar is a lawyer investigating the human rights abuses of Chile's previous fascist regime, though the official government policy is to grant general pardon to all of those who committed these abuses. Gerardo's wife Paulina, a victim of the rape and torture that were rampant during Augusto Pinochet Ugarte's regime, has kept her troubled past from her husband. Dr. Robert Miranda is eating dinner with Paulina and her family when she recognizes his voice as the voice of the man who kidnapped her during the period of Chile's political turmoil.

The author, Chilean political exile Ariel Dorfman says, "I would be content if the people who did terrible things to me and those I love came to ask forgiveness, to say I will never do this to you again, I am really sorry this happened. But until that happens, I demand they be brought to justice, and the justice I seek has to do with the truth.

“How can there be like real peace and reconciliation without this repentance? In Chile, neither the generals nor the entrepreneurs are repentant. Truth commissions can move a moral process, but morality cannot be decreed. Literature and art can contain that pain so even those who hate me can read what I say and understand something about themselves. In Death and the Maiden, the human rights violations on stage are the ones my heroine, whom I love dearly, does to this doctor, who may or may not be innocent. I am questioning ourselves. I don't see the enemies of human rights question themselves"
(www.amnesty.org.uk/journal_july97/carlos.html).

The questions the play arouses in us can find expression at a special free performance and discussion with the cast and director of the production, on Oct. 27, for West Virginia at Parkersburg students.

"Please be advised that 'Death and the Maiden' addresses adult themes and contains very strong adult language," stated Director Carson Soelberg. Parents are not encouraged to bring young children to the show.

Tickets for the 28th, 29th, and 30th can be purchased at the Business Office or at the door on each night of performance.