Arena Stage is presenting the world premiere historical drama “Camp David,” the story of how President Jimmy Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat came together to forge a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
The 90-minute show is about leadership and sacrifice and what it takes to make peace. Nestled for 13 days in the Catoctin Mountains in September 1978, Carter and his wife Rosalynn hosted Begin and Sadat at Camp David, in an attempt to create tranquility in the Middle East. “Camp David” stars Richard Thomas (“The Waltons” in the 1970s) as Jimmy Carter, Tony nominee Hallie Foote as Rosalynn Carter, Tony winner Ron Rifkin as Begin and Khaled Nabawy as Sadat.
“Playing any living person carries with it a degree of responsibility to bring whatever essence one can gather from many types of research available on that person,” said Thomas about playing Jimmy Carter. “Then determining what ‘gesture’ one will make in the physical/vocal qualities of that person. Then bringing yourself fully to the performance — which is all you can really do anyway.” He added, “One's first duty, after all, is to the playwright.”
Hallie Foote, who plays Rosalynn Carter, said the challenge came from playing someone who is an historic figure and very much active in the world. “I tried to honor what I felt was the "essence" of who [Rosalynn] was and didn't try to do a dead-on imitation of her,” she said. “Mrs. Carter has this wonderful softness and gentility and intellect. I tried to honor that.”
She added, “There are people in our country who get up every day and try to make a difference in the world. Rosalynn Carter is one of those people.”
The goal of the play, directed by Molly Smith, was to retrieve a moment of history that has been forgotten, according to playwright and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lawrence Wright. “It was one of the great diplomatic triumphs of the 20th century, one that is the centerpiece of our foreign policy in the region,” said Wright. “Also, I thought there was so much drama inherent in those 13 days that it naturally made for arresting theater.”
Wright added that the lesson he learned from studying the historic summit is that there is no perfect time and there are no perfect people to make peace. “It is always available if leaders are willing to make the painful sacrifices to achieve it,” he said.
Wright, who based the play in part on the private diaries of the Carters, insisted on treating the story as he would if he were writing a story for the New Yorker or a book. “I interviewed the Carters in Plains; I traveled to Egypt and Israel to talk to the surviving members of those delegations; and I read all the memoirs of the principle characters,” said Wright. “Then the challenge to take all of that research and weave it into a drama that was as close to the actual events as possible but also imaginatively rendered.”
The show producer and “architect” Gerald Rafshoon has been a lifelong associate, employee, and confidante of President Jimmy Carter, and when he was communications director at the White House, he was a participant and witness to what went on at Camp David.
“I have never felt that [Jimmy Carter] has gotten sufficient credit for the only peace treaty that has endured in the Middle East,” said Rafshoon. “I thought that the events at Camp David and the subsequent events in the shuttle diplomacy that went on in the Middle East that following spring were not only a monumental achievement but was absolutely the stuff of drama.”
He said “I wanted to bring that out and also to dramatize the belief that I’ve often had that when leaders put aside their own political interests and do what’s right rather than always looking at the political calculation, that great things can happen.”
Thomas hopes the audience will take away the message that “peace is never easy, but always possible.” He said it’s appropriate that the world premiere is being held at Arena Stage in the District of Columbia, because “it’s the political center, and the seat of power from which point emanates so much of the story — one third, in fact,” he said. “Also, D.C. audiences know the stuff.”
President and Rosalynn Carter will be at the red-carpet premiere on Thursday, April 3 at Arena Stage, which includes a VIP cocktail reception and three-course seated dinner with private remarks from Carter.
“Camp David” is playing through May 4 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024. Tickets range from $55 to $90. Call the Sales Office at 202-488-3300 (voice) or 202-484-0247 (TTY) on Tuesday-Sunday 12 p.m. – 8 p.m. Visit www.arenastage.org.