For its spring-semester Mainstage Production, the Saint Michael’s College Fine Arts Department presents a darkly comic play that asks some serious questions. Penned in the 1950s by Swiss playwright Max Frisch, The Arsonists is centered on Gottlieb Biedermann, a well-to-do man who has built his wealth by exploiting the talents of others. Amid a citywide rash of arson, Biedermann takes in two strangers who begin filling his attic with barrels of gasoline. Inspired by historical events of his day, such as the rise of the Nazi party and Switzerland’s neutrality during World War II, Frisch’s comedy calls the concept of the innocent bystander into question.
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