‘V-E Day’

by Faye Sholtion

Presented by: Readers Theatre Plus, a one-night only to commemorate the 70th anniversary of V-E Day

When: 7 p.m. Friday May 8

Where: Mount Pleasant Grange Hall, 2432 Mt. Pleasant Road, Port Angeles

Cost: Free, donations going to American Legion Riders Post 29, Port Angeles

Readers Theatre Plus and playwright Faye Sholtion partner to commemorate 70 years since the Allies accepted Nazi Germany’s surrender during World War II with a one-night show of Sholtion’s play “V-E DAY.”

The show runs only at 7 p.m. Friday, May 8, for free at the Mount Pleasant Grange Hall with donations helping the American Legion Riders Post 29, Port Angeles.

Sholtion’s “V-E DAY” follows a feisty widow, Evelyn Bergfeld, played by Karen Hogan, with her daughter Aimee (Brenda DeChant) in Cleveland, Ohio, on V-E Day, May 8, 2003. Evelyn receives an unexpected visit from her wartime sweetheart, Bernard Cohen, (played by Stewart Harris), who delivers a box of letters and clippings from stories that Evelyn had written during the war. These unleash a flood of memories that make her young again, for the day.

The story goes back to see a youthful Evie (Leona Voss), her friend Lil (Karla Messerschmidt-Morgan), a young Bernard (played by show director Pat Owens), and younger Aimee (Kaylee DeChant).

Sholtion said the idea came to her 20 years ago while working at a Jewish newspaper after a man dropped off a box of old newsletters that had been sent to Jewish troops from Cleveland.

The play and its characters are a composite of different individuals who were actually in the war as soldiers in real situations.

“I found entries from dozens of people I knew, including my father who had died 15 years earlier,” Sholtion said.

“Seeing my parents and their friends in their youthful incarnation was a revelation giving me new understanding of their subsequent disappointments.”

Sholtion said the box of letters in her play provides a gift for Aimee in that the “long-suffering daughter is able to witness the glorious but brief transformation.”

Sholtion wrote “V-E DAY” in 2003 and saw its first reading and production that year. It’s been read at a number of venues nationwide and has won numerous awards.

Attendees are encouraged to arrive early before the show for the flag line from the American Legion Riders.

About Readers Theatre Plus

“V-E DAY” is a rehearsed reading with minimal costumes and simple staging with a narrator setting the scene when necessary.

Readers Theatre Plus regularly accepts submissions of original works that have not been performed in this area and “V-E DAY” was submitted and was reviewed by its play reading committee and its board of directors.

Readers Theatre Plus, since its founding in 2006, is a nonprofit in the community and has raised tens of thousands of dollars for other nonprofits in the community and through this year has given more than $24,000 in scholarships to Port Angeles and Sequim high school seniors.

The group is a revolving set of players and has presented shows at several venues in the area. Its next production, “Side by Side by Sondheim,” will be presented at the Sunland Clubhouse May 29-31 and June 5-7.

For more information, visit readerstheatreplus.com or call 797-3337.