Cenango River Theatre Presents TAKING SIDES

Presented for the first time in the Southern Tier, Chenango River Theatre's final show of their 10th season features the regional premiere of Taking Sides, a provocative 1995 Holocaust drama written by Ronald Harwood (Academy-Award winning writer ofThe Pianist and The Dresser). Set in the ruins of post-war Berlin and loosely based onworld famous German conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler's own diaries, this provocative drama explores Furtwangler's possible complicity in Nazi war crimes.

Prior to WWII, Furtwangler was at the height of his career, eclipsing all other conductors, as Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. As the terrors of Nazism spread, many of Furtwangler's colleagues fled the country, but Furtwangler mysteriously chose to stay.

Though he claimed he was never a member of the Nazi Party, Furtwangler was the recipient of government honors and appointments associated with party members. Did he use his exalted position as "Hitler's conductor" to help Jewish musicians escape Germany, or did he fully support the Third Reich during the height of the war?

Nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play, "TAKING SIDES is a taut, chilling drama...riveting, often witty, and stirs one with a powerful indignation." -London Financial Times.

One of the most spectacular and renowned conductors of the 30s, Furtwangler's reputation rivaled that of Toscanini's. After the war, he was investigated as part of the Allies' De-Nazification program. In the bombed-out Berlin of the immediate post-war period, the Allies slowly bring law and order - and justice - to bear on an occupied Germany. An American intelligence officer is given the Furtwangler file, and told to find everything he can and to prosecute the man ruthlessly. Tough and hard-nosed, Major Steve Arnold sets out to investigate a world of which he knows nothing. To the Germans, deeply respectful of their musical heritage, Furtwangler was a demigod; to Major Arnold, he is just a lying, weak-willed Nazi.

The London Sunday Times termed the production "A brave, wise and deeply moving play delineating the confrontation between culture and power, between art and politics, between irresponsible freedom and responsible compromise. A gripping moral challenge in a c*cksure and self-seeking age."

The 6 person cast is led by two passionate men - one zealously searching for guilt and the other desperately trying to clear his name. Guilty or not guilty? Did history make the right decision? It all depends on which side you take.

In the lead role of Major Arnold, James Wetzel makes his first appearance in the Southern Tier. He has worked at theatres around the country in lead roles in plays such as Terra Nova, Hedda Gabler, Of Mice and Men, The Rainmaker, Inherit the Windand The Late Henry Moss.

Jim Wicker plays the legendary Wilhelm Furtwangler, generally acknowledged as the world's leading conductor in the 1930's and thru the war years. Based out of Florida and North Carolina, Jim has previously appeared at CRT in Last Gas, The Diary of Anne Frank, Yankee Tavern, The Foreigner and I Hate Hamlet.

CRT's Artistic Director Bill Lelbach directs the production, as well as designing the set - an office in occupied Germany surrounded by the bombed out rubble of the war. Lighting Designer E.D. Intemann from Cornell and Costume Designer Barbara Kahl (SUNY Oneonta) round out the creative team.

Taking Sides runs for three weeks only, from Sept. 30 - Oct. 16 and is co-produced byThe Raymond Corporation and by Jim & Beth Daniels. Chenango River Theatre's 2016 season is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., plus Sunday matinees at 2 pm. Tickets can be purchased online at www.chenangorivertheatre.org, or by emailing tickets@chenangorivertheatre.org. You can also make reservations 24 hours a day by voice mail at 607-656-8499.

Individual tickets are $22 Thursday, $23 Friday, $25 Saturday and $23 Sunday. Half price for college students and those under 18. All performances start on time - late seating is not available.

Chenango River Theatre is just 15 minutes north of Binghamton at 991 State Highway 12, Greene, NY. CRT features professional actors in every production - the same actors you see on television, in film and at major theatres across the country.