Play Gives Voice to Human-Rights Activists

Ariel Dorfman, the Chilean author of numerous literary works and a professor in Duke's Literature Program, will see his latest play, "Voices From Beyond the Dark," performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington Tuesday night. The play is a part of a multi-event tribute, Speak Truth to Power, going on this week in the nation's capital. Conceived and led by veteran human-rights advocate Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, the tribute celebrates human-rights activists, including several Nobel-Prize laureates, from countries around the globe, including Burma, China, Nigeria, Peru, El Salvador and Guatemala, among others, Dorfman said. "It's as if I'm blessed, by giving voice to them, by allowing them to find a literary home," Dorfman added. His play's single performance will feature actors Alec Baldwin, Ruben Blades, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Giancarlo Esposito, Kevin Kline, John Malkovich, Rita Moreno, Sigourney Weaver and Alfre Woodard. Portrayed will be internationally celebrated figures from Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic to Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Sister Baltasar Garzon of Spain and Marian Wright Edelman of the United States. Also represented on stage will be the words of unsung activists, from abolitionists working to end the world's sexual slavery trade to those striving to end domestic violence. Expected to be among invited audience guests are U.S. Congress members and numerous human-rights activists, Dorfman said. His play will air on the Public Broadcasting Network, as part of the Great Performances series, at 8 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 9. The play's performance coincides with publication of Kerry Kennedy Cuomo's book, Speak Truth to Power, which profiles 50 human-rights activists. Kennedy Cuomo is a lawyer; mother of three girls; wife of Andrew Cuomo, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy. On exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in addition, will be photographs used in the book, taken by Pulitzer-Prize winning photojournalist Eddie Adams (known for his work in Vietnam). The exhibit runs from Sept. 20 through Oct. 15. Dorfman said he adapted his play from Kennedy Cuomo's book. "I wasn't sure I could do it at first, because it was so challenging." The playwright faced squeezing a 250-page book into a 50-minute play. "So it's very condensed and very dramatic," he explained. To add conflict and suspense, Dorfman said, he invented a character who serves as the enemy, or antagonist: The Man. This character, he said, acts as a counterpoint to the multiple voices of human-rights activists up on stage. "The dramatic movement of the piece," he said, "is how they manage to overcome their fear of The Man and isolate him. "Slowly, they develop one collective voice," he said, "'We can't be stopped.'" Dorfman structured his play as a piece of music, he said, much like a cantata. The play is built, moreover, he said, around the metaphors of courage, humor, fear, loss and death. About his involvement with the project, he said, "What I found very interesting is that most of these voices had a religious component, and I'm not very religious. They seemed to feel like a divine finger reached out and said, 'You cannot be quiet.' "I think that I learned to be a little less skeptical about the human spirit. It really is unquenchable in terms of justice." Dorfman fled Chile, his adopted country, in 1973 after a U.S.-backed coup ousted socialist President Salvador Allende. Led by right-wing military leader General Augusto Pinochet, the coup resulted in thousands of Chileans being imprisoned, tortured or killed. Dorfman made his escape into political exile.

Written by Linda Haac.