During the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bertolt Brecht, the Program in the Humanities and Human Values is pleased to join forces with the PlayMakers Repertory Company for a seminar including a performance of The Threepenny Opera, Brecht's legendary success and definitive masterpiece. An instant hit, Brecht's and composer Kurt Weill's collaborative effort debuted in 1928 and was repeated in the 1950s, when it had a seven-year run of more than 2,500 performances in New York City. Our seminar will trace the origins of The Threepenny Opera (the text was based on John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, which premiered in 1728). We will also explore the reasons for its popularity and its elevation to the status of quintessential emblem of the Weimar Republic, modern Germany's first democratic state. Finally, we will examine Brecht's life, the importance of The Threepenny Opera in the history of modern music, and the social and political circumstances of the cabaret culture that surrounded its composition and debut.
Topics and Faculty
Bertolt Brecht -- Life, Times & The Threepenny Opera
Siegfried Mews, Professor of German
Weimar as a Culture in Crisis
Konrad Jarausch, Lurcy Professor of History
Kurt Weill, Weimar Theatre & Operatic Reform
Bryan Gilliam, Associate Professor of Music, Duke University
The Threepenny Opera, a performance and conversation featuring The PlayMakers Repertory Company
Time and Cost: 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 24 through 1 p.m. Saturday, April 25, 1998. The tuition is $85 and includes a heavy hors d'oeuvres reception; the optional PlayMakers ticket is $17.25. A block of rooms for this seminar has been reserved at the University Motor Inn. Please make your reservations before April 12, 1998 by calling the Inn at 919 / 932-3000 and mentioning the Humanities Program.
For further information, contact:
Wayne J. Pond, Associate Director
Program in the Humanities & Human Values
#3 Bolin Heights Road, CB #3425
UNC at Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3425
Phone: 919 / 962-1544
FAX: 919 / 962-4318
E-mail: pond@email.unc.edu
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