A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Magda's Story

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  4w, 6m

By David F. Eliet
Based on the life of Maria Magdalena Bednarova

The remarkable true story of an ordinary person, who when she was
presented with the opportunity to do something to save the life of
another chose to act when so many others chose to turn away.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 6m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Biography, Period, Docudrama/Historic
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Appropriate for all audiences, Adult, Teen (Age 14 - 18)

Details

Summary

In September 1942, a young Catholic Slovak Woman boards a train bound from Bratislava to Budapest. She is traveling alone in the middle of a war to a city she has never seen, to meet people she does not know, to do something that is forbidden. She is on a mission to secure a forged baptismal certificate that will hopefully save the life of a man she loves, a Jew. If she succeeds, she will save his life, if she fails she could bring disaster upon herself and her entire family.

Magda's Story is the remarkable true story of an ordinary person, who when she was presented with the opportunity to do something to save the life of another chose to act when so many others chose to turn away. The play spans nearly sixty years from Magda’s arrival in Bratislava in 1938, when the city was known as “the little Vienna,” through the turmoils of the war, the communist revolution, the Prague Spring, and the collapse of communism. It is the story of personal courage, self-sacrifice, imprisonment, exile and finally redemption. But it is first and foremost a love story. The love of Magda for two remarkable men, the one whose life she saved, Josef Zachar, and her husband, Jan Fliml.

History

Magda's Story was the winner of the Playwrights First Award and was given a staged reading by professional actors at the Kaufman Theatre on Theatre Row in New York City. The play received its first full professional production at the Detroit Repertoy Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.  The production was directed by the artistic director, Bruce E. Millan.

MAGDA ROZGONOVA - 19-year-old Slovak Woman
JOSEF ZACHAR - 25, wealthy, a Jewish industralist
JAN FLIML - early 30s, Director of The Slovak Travel Bureau
INQUISITOR 1
INQUISITOR 2
PEOPLE ON THE TRAIN - Businessman, Woman 1, Woman 2, Government Man, Soldier, Passengers
PEOPLE FROM THE WAR YEARS - Magda's Mother, Girl 1, Girl 2, Waiter, Jewish Youth, 2nd Jewish Youth, First Jewish Mother, 2nd Jewish Mother, Government Man, The Man, Man-In-Bathrobe, The Other Man
PEOPLE AFTER THE WAR - Friend of Magda's, Voice on Loudspeaker, Government Woman, Cashier, Daniela, Laclo

The play has over two dozen characters and was meant to be done with ten actors, five principal actors and five actors who play all the other parts, although more actors can be used if desired.

  • Time Period 1990s, 1960s, 1950s, 1940s / WWII, 1930s
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Additional Features Not Applicable
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • No Special Cautions

Media

"Biographical Magda takes two ordinary heroes of the Holocaust and celebrates them." - Detroit News

"Magda's Story is a powerful epic play told in a third person docu-drama style wher the story and the times drive characters rather than the other way around...Great theatre, as well as being an important play - one that is sure to live in the memory of all who see it." - The Monitor

"It's a tale of courage - courage as seductive as it is powerful." - Detroit Free Press

Music

  • Musical Style N/A (Not a musical)
  • Vocal DemandsN/A (Not a musical)
  • Chorus Size No Chorus

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

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Authors

David F. Eliet

David F. Eliet is a professional playwright, director, and theatre educator. He was the founding artistic director of The Perishable Theatre, director of the Cleveland Play House Lab Company and the Circle In The Square Suitcase Theatre and Acting Ensemble. He was the a co-f ...
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