Frank Whelan provides a look at "The Angels Share," a play by Joseph Kline, chairman of the department of performing and fine arts at DeSales. Kline's idea for the play came from a Washington Post article in 1980s about a plant genetics group in Leningrad, Russia that was about to go bankrupt and close. Five members of the institute were trapped in their office during the 900-day siege of Leningrad by the Germans in 1941-42. They starved to death, rather than eat the huge amounts of available potatoes, wheat, corn and other crops that the Germans were using for genetics research. Kline wrote the play while he was working for the State Theater of Virginia in 1996. The siege of Leningrad, one of World War II's most dramatic moments, serves as the historic background of Klines's play. The play was first mounted in Virginia, before being performed at the Rybinsk Municipal Theatre in Russia, where the audience reaction was profound. Kline's characters in "The Angel's Share" imagine a better world in the future because of their commitment to science. The play will be performed at the Labuda Center at DeSales at 8 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.