The Zeiterion Performing Arts Center presents “Simon Wiesenthal: Nazi Hunter”

Playwright, actor and Drama Critics Circle Award Winner Tom Dugan stars in “Simon Wiesenthal: Nazi Hunter” a one-man play that portrays the heroic and comedic side of the famed concentration camp survivor Simon Wiesenthal and his life pursuit for bringing Nazi criminals to justice, at The Zeiterion Performing Arts Center, on Thursday, April 16, 8pm on Holocaust Memorial Day. Tickets for “Simon Wiesenthal: Nazi Hunter” start at $20, and are available online at www.zeiterion.org, by calling The Z Box Office at 508-994-2900 Tuesday-Friday 10am- 5pm, and Saturday 10am-3pm.

The late Simon Wiesenthal was often called “the Jewish James Bond” and “the Conscience of the Holocaust” for his activities in the pursuit of Nazis. It was a mission to which he dedicated 58 years of his life, after having been a prisoner in several concentration camps during World War II. The iconic figure lives again in the one-man show starring and written by Tom Dugan.

Directed by Jenny Sullivan, the play is set on the day of the famed “Nazi Hunter’s” retirement while he recounts how after cheating death at the hands of Hitler’s dreaded S.S. he dedicated his life to tracking down and bringing to justice nearly 1,100 fugitive war criminals, including Franz Stangl, the Treblinka death camp commandant; Karl Silberbauer, the S.S. officer who imprisoned Anne Frank; and the infamous “Architect of the Holocaust” Adolph Eichmann. The resonance of the show goes beyond those who identify as Jewish, as Wiesenthal also fought for the rights of Soviet, Polish, Gypsy, Jehovah’s Witness and gay Holocaust victims, too. “Wiesenthal understood that each of us has the capacity and potential for evil,” he said.

The 53-year-old Dugan, whose television credits include “Bones,” “Friends,” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” has always pushed the limits of the one-man play format, as evidenced by his other historical-themed shows “Robert E. Lee” and “Frederick Douglass: In the Shadow of Slavery.” A forthcoming will be based on the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Tom Dugan is a veteran actor and playwright who recently received the 2011 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Solo Performance and was winner of three 2011 Los Angeles Ovation Award nominations for his work in “Wiesenthal.”

Dugan says, “I am delighted to be in New Bedford at The Zeiterion on Holocaust Memorial Day, especially to commemorate Simon Wiesenthal’s passion for educating youth for the future – teaching the next generation how to identify the warning signs of the dangers that exist today.”

To amplify this message, The Z has partnered with the Jewish Federation of Greater New Bedford to offer several events in conjunction with the play, including a pre-show From Page to Stage book club discussion of “Branded on My Arm and in My Soul: A Holocaust Memoir” by Abraham Landau, former New Bedford resident and activist; a School Time performance of the play for area students; an art exhibit, procured by Spinner Publications, featuring the story of Abe Landau as described in his memoir. The exhibit will take place in the Penler Lounge at The Z, and will also feature the stories of local liberators of the Holocaust.

In addition, The Jewish Federation has generously sponsored 100 tickets for local students to attend the school-day performance of the show, and visit schools with presentations on the Holocaust and Abe Landau’s story, creating a foundation for their theater experience.

Tickets to “Simon Wiesenthal: Nazi Hunter” on Thursday, April 16 at 8pm are available by phone at 508-994-2900, online at www.zeiterion.org, or in person at the box office at 684 Purchase Street, New Bedford, MA. Box Office Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and two hours before each performance. For more information and a complete listing of shows, visit www.zeiterion.org.