Oslo

Back in the days before Twitter, diplomacy was a face-to-face business. Representatives from two nations or groups would meet together to discuss the issue at hand like adults and try to come to some sort of agreeable compromise. In the early 1990s, these quaint methods enabled leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israeli government to meet, however reluctantly. Norwegian diplomat Mona Juul and her husband Terje Rød-Larsen used back-channel relationships to very quietly establish connections with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzahk Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, and encouraged them to sit down and talk about building a road to peace. In a room supplied with food and drink, the leaders of two warring parties engaged with one another as people and found the spark of a human connection. J.T. Rogers' Tony Award-winning play Oslo dramatizes those meetings and that fleeting moment when two enemies shook hands and agreed to make peace. The Repertory Theatre St. Louis presents Oslo Tuesday through Sunday (February 8 to March 3) at the Loretto-Hilton Center (130 Edgar Road; www.repstl.org). Tickets are $19 to $92.