AUNT RAINI, by Tom Smith

Characters:

Raini, 80s, but looks 40s-50s

Katherine, 30s, her grand-niece

Joel, 30s, Katherine's boyfriend

Offstage Voices

Time/Place: The time is the recent past. The place is Katherine's apartment.

Running time: 90 minutes.

AUNT RAINI is loosely based on the life of Leni Riefenstahl, who spent the early part of her career as the official documentarian of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Raini has come from Germany to visit her grand-niece, Katherine, who is a successful gallery owner. After a dinner out with Katherine's boyfriend, Joel, a photographer whose work focuses on his Judaism, Raini goes into cardiac arrest and dies.

A package for Katherine arrives from Germany. Inside are the original masters of her aunt's Nazi propaganda films, and Joel forces Katherine to examine whether great art stemming from evil should be judged as significant historical artwork or evidence of hate crimes.