Tom Whalen, Claudia Veronica Garcia, and Tyler Stamm Photo by Gisell Calderón

In his director's notes, Khalidi noted that Dorfman's award-winning play is "born from the rage and sorrow of an exile's pen." Dorfman wrote that the impetus for the plot came from a germ of an idea he had when he was in exile from the Chilean dictatorship in the 1980s: a man whose car breaks down is given a ride home by a friendly stranger. There are only three characters in Death and the Maiden: the friendly stranger, Dr. Roberto Miranda; the man, Gerardo Escobar; and Gerardo's wife, Paulina Escobar.

From the beginning of Khalidi's production, the tension was palpable. As Paulina Escobar, actor Claudia Veronica Garcia waited in the dark holding a pistol. Clearly on edge, Paulina was anxiously awaiting her husband's return. The set designed by Saide Ward was immersive, with one section of the audience seated between the bedroom/porch area and the living room. When the lights came up, audience members were visible to all, giving an additional sense of intimacy to the tension. The staging made use of all areas of the set with a playful depiction of Paulina and Gerardo lying in bed when they are actually standing against a wall.

Death and the Maiden deals with heavy material–through the course of the play we learn that prior to their marriage, Paulina suffered sexual, physical, psychological abuse, and assault at the hands of the country's previous regime. Her husband Gerardo, played by Tyler Stamm, has just been offered a role as a prosecutor on a commission to investigate the regime's crimes. Paulina struggles with the idea of him revisiting these crimes due to her personal experience, and after this is disclosed, Dr. Miranda is thrown into the mix.

There is no question this is a well-made, psychological thriller of a play with timeless themes. The motivations of each character are clear even when the characters themselves feel lost. Paulina's reactions to the stranger are understandable and justified, given the trauma she has experienced. Gerardo's internal conflict between Paulina's anger and his own, and his sense of justice are relatable. As Dr. Miranda, actor Tom Whalen brought some levity to his initial "chummy" scenes with Stamm's Gerardo, and believable portrayed the darker side of his character.

Whalen's attempt to lighten the mood in those early scenes was appreciated. Scenes between Paulina and Gerardo were particularly heavy, even from the very beginning–a joke about Paulina giving away Gerardo's tire jack fell flat, overwhelmed by the underlying animosity between the pair. Director Khalidi clearly has a great deal of respect for this important work and his actors were open and invested in their characters. Building to some of the very important moments between this pair could have added to the dramatic impact; in this production, every interaction seemed to contain the same amount of importance.

The choice of this challenging production speaks to Pangea World Theater's ambitious vision of a just world. The Twin Cities is fortunate to have small theatre companies willing to engage with and produce difficult international work like Death and the Maiden. Pangea World Theater's next production, Homo Dramaticus, by Alberto Adellach, is a co-production with Teatro del Pueblo. It runs November 8 - 17, 2024, at The Southern Theater.

Death and the Maiden ran October 25 - November 2, 2024, at the Pangea World Theater Studio, 711 West Lake Street, Minneapolis MN. For information, please visit pangeaworldtheater.org.