Play inspired by Mideast peace talks wins in New York

A play inspired by the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Norwegian husband and wife diplomats behind the 1993 Oslo Accords was crowned best play on New York’s Broadway Sunday at the Tony Awards.

The homegrown play, “Oslo,” written by US playwright J.T. Rogers was inspired by the back-channel talks, unlikely friendships and quiet heroics that led to the agreement more than two decades ago.

The play has won rave reviews and a Hollywood movie adaptation is also in the works, planned by Marc Platt, producer of “La La Land,” which won six Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards.

“To the ladies and gentlemen of the Oslo Accords who believed in democracy, who believed in seeing peace, seeing their enemies as humans, I give this up to them,” said Rogers.

Two-time Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey hosted the star-studded 71st annual edition of the biggest night on Broadway, the equivalent of the Academy Awards for US Theater.

Beginning on off-Broadway, “Oslo” moved to the Lincoln Center this year and is scheduled to go to London in September.

“We are in a golden age of American playwrighting,” said producer Andre Bishop as he accepted the award.

The real-life political thriller tells the story of the Norwegian couple who coordinated the secret talks that led to the handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat on the lawn of the White House, and earned both the Nobel Peace Prize, shared with Shimon Peres.

Agence France-Presse gets a fleeting reference in the production as actress Jennifer Ehle declares at one point: “There is a leak: Agence France-Presse reports about back-channel negotiations in Oslo.”

The play, which garnered a total of seven Tony nominations, also saw Michael Aronov win the Tony Award for featured actor in a play.