Crystal Skillman’s “The Rocket Men” made its West Coast premiere at Eugene’s Oregon Contemporary Theatre on Jan. 17. The play, featuring an all-female cast, takes place between the 1950s and 1970s. It follows a group of scientists poached from Nazi Germany as they attempt to break ground in the realm of space exploration.
While the real-life “Operation Paperclip” responsible for importing German scientists to assist with United States military efforts brought over 1,600 Germans to the states, “The Rocket Men” focuses on a select group of individuals responsible for America’s space efforts. The show focuses on Heinz-Hermann Koelle (Kathleen Borrelli) as he joins a team of German scientists who already have a history. Koelle has aspirations of sending humans to Mars, and Wernher von Braun (Katie Worley Beck) leads the charge to do so. Conflict arises when Koelle gradually becomes suspicious as to how complicit his co-workers were in Germany’s war crimes.
“The Rocket Men” is currently showing as a “rolling premiere,” meaning it’s still in a state of development before it finally hits New York City and officially gets published. Skillman was actually in the audience on opening and saw the audience reaction to her work firsthand. The writing and acting are certainly not going for all-out realism, hence the all-female cast, but the stylized versions of these very complex individuals is enjoyable to watch while still maintaining a semblance of broader historical accuracy.
The writing is largely comedic, which accounts for much of the show’s weaker elements. There certainly are some funny moments, but oftentimes the jokes lead to the group feeling more chummy than what feels natural. The story really hits its stride when it comes face to face with the atrocities that many of the characters in the play were privy to. Fortunately, the transition from comedic to dramatic rarely feels abrupt, and that is largely due to the performances.
Jessica Jae Unker does an excellent job at playing Sol, a recurring voice of descent to von Braun’s past. Her solemn yet powerful demeanor truly suits the role, and is a highlight of the show. Ruth Adele Mandsager, in turn, manages to take the morally complex Arthur Rudolph and portray him with just the right balance of sinister and empathetic to make him an enjoyable character while not taking away from the very real horrors he was involved in. The heart of the show really lies in the hands of Beck and Borrelli, which is fortunate given they seem to exude an almost effortless chemistry. Zayne Clayton is also a highlight, primarily acting as a Rod Serling-type omniscient spectator that keys the audience in on historical contexts. She also gets a brief yet significant role towards the end of the play that truly makes the show.
While the first act is dragged down by some shoehorned exposition and questionable comedy, the second and third acts contain some compelling writing on behalf of Skillman as well as meaningful performances. The play spends much of its time addressing Germany’s atrocities in World War II, but is sure to distill the issue down to the characters’ involvement in the prison camps designed for building V-2 rockets. Focusing on these camps instead of the issues with Nazism as a whole grants the story enough specificity to create drama without getting too broad, and it leads to some powerful moments.
Oregon Contemporary Theatre’s black box is well-suited for the play. Though focusing on the men behind space travel, the story largely takes place in an office with five desks. Behind the desks is a wall that acts as a surface for a projectionist to show historical clips relevant to the story. This projection technique is a novel way to utilize the space presented, and is often helpful when attempting to relate the fictionalized story to real-world events, such as von Braun’s partnership with Walt Disney.
“The Rocket Men,” while a little rough around the edges with its comedy and exposition, is worth seeing for those interested in history. The performances are solid and the story is consistently entertaining.
