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Borderlands
Copyright © 1995
by Mona Z Koppelman
Rose Theatre, Los Angeles
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Sometime in the next millennium, two border guards in a barren
wasteland pass a long night watch by spinning a story that takes them
back to the "halcyon days" of their war, the 1990s. The story is of two
young Bosnian women: the free-spirited Jelena, and her friend Hika, a shy,
introverted girl who is half Muslim. At a dance, the girls meet a pair of
soldiers celebrating a last night of freedom before going to the front. When
Jelena fatally wounds one of the soliders, she evades punishment by
assuming the soldier's identity and heading to the front in his place.
Both girls survive the war, but when they are at least reuinted, the cost
of survival is their friendship. — from the production notes
"Tragic farce" is an excellent description of Mona Koppelman's ferocious
satire about the early days of
the war in Bosnia-herzegovina. ... a thought-provoking mixture of cruel
humor and
chilling horror — and it sums up recent world events with
remarkable elegance and sensitivity. — LA Reader
Mona Koppelman's fascinating and pervesely funny play about Bosnia
mercifully sidesteps political agendas, offering instead a broader,
absurdist meditation on power relationships and the suffering they
engender. — LA Weekly
... dutifully researched background detail ... a tragic parable told through
the interlocking
stories of two girlfriends. ... The play's strong suit is its frame tale
about a
pair of comical border guards ... enemies who have lost their own sense of
boundaries and now cavort like the clowns in Waiting for Godot.
— Los Angeles Times
Koppelman can write moving and even riveting dialogue, and the principal
members of the cast do themselves
proud in strenuous, complex roles. — Charlottesville Weekly
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What the Critics Say
Bibliography
