With authoritarianism rising around the world, Café Resistance, a new play by Roberto Monticello, directed by Lissa Moira, offers a harrowing and heroic story of the WWII French Resistance intended to highlight the power of defiance in the face of oppression. A drama with period music, it is set in a mythical café/bordello in 1939 Paris in which the staff uses creativity to undermine the Nazi occupation.
Stories of the French Resistance are not just history, they are blueprints for courage in which parallels to our own moment in history are undeniable. Inspired by true events, the play illuminates the ingenuity and bravery of little people in the fight against fascism. Its plot is a mixture of true stories told to Monticello by friends and family who survived World War II in Europe.
In the play, German Armies have marched into Paris, and the Occupation has begun. What should Parisians do–collaborate, capitulate or resist any way they can? The Blue Parrot Cafe’s “ladies of the evening,” who “perform” in so many ways in floor shows, answer with a resounding “RESIST!” What emerges is a play of heroism, intrigue and romance with instructive themes on moral clarity in dark times, the cost of complacency and the power of solidarity and hope.
The storyline centers around Louise, a dancer who finds herself the cashier/manager of the place when its colorful, avaricious owner, Marguerite, flees to her château as WWII begins. The Blue Parrot is commandeered for the sole use of Nazi officers, and the resourceful women who work there find numerous ways to show their French patriotism. Louise, hiding her Jewish identity, is in constant danger. She has placed her son, Jacques, on a farm with a kindly couple to try and keep him safe. Her lover, a Resistance fighter codenamed DADA, shows up on the run from Nazi pursuers, and Louise must connect him with other Resistance fighters to enable his escape. Meanwhile, her dear little boy and the farmers protecting him are forced to abandon the farm. Finding her child becomes her driving reason to go on.
