Eugenio, two-act drama by NPC's Gallo to play at Greenbelt Arts Center

National Press Club member Anthony Gallo's play, "Eugenio will be presented by the Greenbelt Arts Center over the next two weekends.

Seventy years ago, American forces liberated Rome from Nazi occupation. This fact-based, two-act drama deals with that tragic period in Italy during the Holocaust when fifteen hundred Jews were sent to their deaths at Auschwitz.

The drama touches on the role of the Church and the Holocaust, and examines forgiveness amidst three conversions. Rome's aloof and scholarly Chief Rabbi Israel Zolli loses faith following the apparent slaughter of his Polish family. He receives asylum in the Vatican, where he comes to appreciate Jesus as God suffering for humanity. The Rabbi rediscovers faith and converts to Roman Catholicism. This is seen as a betrayal of his spiritual duty and a defection to the age-old enemy. Was his conversion one of conviction or merely gratitude? What does he demand at his baptism that eventually removes a major symbol of discrimination?

Performances will be held in the historic Greenbelt Arts Center July 18-20 and July 25-27. For more information, contact Gallo at [email protected]. Or http://www.aegallo.com/green.html