Kathmandu, March 12 -- The military is at Alicia's door, knocking with a threatening sense of urgency. She tries to flee, taking the back door. As we watch, she runs away from the stage, but a group of armed men rise from among the audience, barring her way. As Alicia cowers and surrenders, the audience too is trapped inside her claustrophobic terror. Deborah Merola's adaptation of The Little School wastes no time setting the tone for what is about to come for the next three hours.

During Argentina's Dirty War, from 1970-1983, when a brutal military dictatorship ruled the country, Alicia Partnoy was among the many who were 'disappeared' by the state. After the end of the dictatorship in 1983, Partnoy published a memoir, The Little School...