Archive - Centennary Events

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General Information

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Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus (Berlin)

Activities throughout the year include participation in the scholarly conference on Brecht's Maßnahme being organized by the Europäische Brecht-Gesellschaft; a series of readings by authors and poets from Germany and other countries; a series of "book premieres" of new publications on Brecht in cooperation with publishers like Suhrkamp Verlag, Theater der Zeit, Aufbau Verlag, Argon Verlag, and Berliner Zeitung; special "Brecht tours" through Berlin; a Brecht film retrospective from Fall 1997 through Spring 1998; a production of Brecht's Kinderkreuzzug with new music by Boris Blacher and Hartmut Fladt will be staged by Stefanie Wüst (Cologne) and director Konstantia Gourzi (Bucharest/Berlin) and the Atacce Ensemble; an exhibit "Über die Freundlichkeit" prepared by Antony Tatlow (Dublin) and artists from Berlin; and an internet survey about Brecht conducted by Marianne Conrad of the Literaturforum.
For details see Literaturforum.

I am pleased to announce a website created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Bertolt Brecht's birthday on February 10, 1998. This web exhibition highlights archival materials from the Feuchtwanger Memorial Library at the University of Southern California while describing various aspects of the six years Brecht lived in Los Angeles. URL:
http://www-lib.usc.edu/Info/FML/Brecht/

The first phase of the exhibition is ready for viewing but continue to check back at the site since additional pages will be added throughout 1998 to celebrate Brecht's 100th year.

I would be happy to receive any comments about the exhibit or answer any questions you might have about the Feuchtwanger Memorial Library.

Marje Schuetze-Coburn
Feuchtwanger Librarian
Feuchtwanger Memorial Library
Department of Special Collections
Information Services Division
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0182

Happening Events

Due to Bertolt Brecht's 100th anniversary over a hundred presentations of his work (lectures, theatre performances, exhibitions, ect.) take place in his hometown of Augsburg.
For information please contact the e-mail addresses:
brecht.stadt@augsburg.de
http://brecht.fh-augsburg.de
A program-booklet( 300 gramms/10,59 ounces) will be send to everybody interested. The postage has to be paid individually.

From December 1997 through February 1998 the television channel 3SAT will be programming an extensive retrospective of Brecht material (documentations of important productions, films by Brecht and based on his plays or stories, biographical features, etc.) on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons. In addition, the S2 radio broadcasting station will be programming during the same period historical and contemporary radio play versions of Brecht material. Accompanying the retrospective is the book: Werner Hecht, ed., alles was Brecht ist... Begleitbuch zu den Sendereihen von 3SAT und S2 Kultur (forthcoming Suhrkamp Verlag, October 1997). For more information click on the following link, http://www.goethe.de/z/13/brecht/deindex.htm.

The city of Seville in Spain is commemorating Brecht's centenary with various activities for the rest of the year. For details, contact the URL link at:
     http://www.dipusevilla.es/cultura/bertolt/index.htm
Diputacion de Seville also sponsors an internet forum on Brecht at the following URL:
     http://www.dipusevilla.es/cultura/bertolt/encuentro/internet.htm

The Eastside Sinfonietta, a Los Angeles performance group with lead vocalist Weba Garretson and musicians Joseph Berardi, Ralph Gorodetsky, J. Payne, and Tracy Wannomae, has put together a successful program of Brecht songs that was performed to rave reviews at the West Coast Brecht Festival (at the Los Angeles Public Library in February 1998). The program includes "Lily from Hell", "Sailors Tango," "Solomon Tango," "Supply and Demand," "Surabaya Johnny," "Mandelay," "Hollywood," "The Swamp," and "Mack the Knife". The group is hoping to prepare a musical event to commemorate Kurt Weill's centenary in the year 2000 as well. Contact:
The Eastside Sinfonietta
PO Box 2727
1615 North Wilcox Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90078
Tel. 323 / 664-1404
Fax 353 / 913-1762
email: eastside@catasonic.com

New CD's for 100th birthday

Brecht, Bertolt: Werke, 20 Audio-CDs mit Textheft. BMG Video / UFA, 1997.
(ISBN: 3-9805974-0-7), DM 399
[A reissue of earlier Eterna/Litera LPs from the GDR and some other material]

-Brecht singt Songs aus der Dreigroschenoper, spricht Gedichte, wird verhört vor dem 'Ausschuß für unamerikanische Betätigung'. Brecht inszeniert:
- Der kaukasische Kreidekreis
- Das Leben des Galilei
Aufführungen:
- Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar
- Leben des Galilei (Gesamtaufnahme)
- Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder
- Der kaukasische Kreidekreis
- Die Tage der Commune
- Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti
- Mit Pauken und Trompeten
Lesungen:
- Flüchtlingsgespräche
- "Von der Natur der Menschen"
- Helene Weigel liest Brecht
- Therese Giehse liest Brecht
Songs, Lieder & Gedichte:
- Ernst Busch singt Brecht
- Ekkehard Schall singt Brecht
- Hilmar Thate singt Brecht
- Songs aus der Dreigroschenoper
- Hanns Eisler & Paul Dessau interpretieren Brecht-Songs
---------------------

Brecht, Bertolt: An die Nachgeborenen, 2 CD-Audio. Sprecher: Bertolt Brecht, Helene Weigel, Fritz Kortner u. a.. Hörspiele, Lesungen, Reden. 143 Min. (Audio Books von dem Hörverlag, Produktion Suhrkamp Verlag). 1997. ISBN: 3-89584-377-6 , DM 45

- Brecht spricht "An die Nachgeborenen" (1953)
- Der Ozeanflug (Hörspiel, 1930)
- Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe (Hörspiel 1932)
- Ausschnitt aus Die Maßnahme (1931, mit Brecht als der junge Genosse)
- "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", von Brecht gesungen (1929)
- Kälbermarsch "Hinter der Trommel her" (Parodie des Horst-Wessel-Liedes, von Brecht gesungen, 1943)
- Ausschnitt aus der Vernehmung Brechts vor dem HUAC (1947)
- Rundfunkgespräche mit Brecht (1952)
- Rede Brechts anläßlich der Entgegennahme des Stalin-Friedenpreises (Moskau 1955)
- Probenmitschnitt des Berliner Ensembles Leben des Galilei (1956)
- Brecht sing "Das Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit menschlichen Lebens" (1929) und vieles mehr!
---------------------

A new CD edition honoring the Lotte Lenya centenary has been produced by Bear Family Records of Hambergen (Germany). Among other selections on the 11-CD collection is a recitation of Brecht's Kinderkreuzzug.
---------------------

Sony has also released two new Masterwork's Heritage CD's on the occasion of the Lenya centenary which include Seven Deadly Sins, 4 selections from George Tabori's sixties production Brecht on Brecht, and Lenya singing "Mack the Knife" with Louis Armstrong.

• Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin is sponsoring a project called "Station: BRECHT 100/1998 that begins already in July 1997 with a workshop under the title "Brecht, Beckett, Müller: Stationen des Theaters im 20. Jahrhundert".

  July 4 - July 6, 1997
  Discussion and dramaturgical analysis with former Brecht collaborator Peter Palitzsch (Berliner Ensemble)
  July 11, 1997
  Discussion with essayist Friedrich Dieckmann and former Brecht collaborator B.K. Tragelehn
  July 12, 1997
  Lecture by Prof. emeritus Ernst Schumacher (Humboldt University, Berlin): "Meine Begegnung mit Brecht"
  July 21, 1997
  Lecture/discussion with Prof. Frank Hörnigk (Humboldt University, Berlin):
  "Was ist Brecht an Müller?"
  July 11-26, 1997
  Scenic workshop with Brecht texts

  For further information, also concerning the plans for 1998, contact:
  Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin, Germany, fon 49-30 / 169 0321, fax 49-30 / 169 0330

• Sa 07.02.
  München, Residenztheater
  Brecht-Nacht "Jetzt erst Brecht"
  Über 20 Künstler lesen oder singen Brecht.
  Reportage von der Veranstaltung life im Fernsehen (Bayern 3)

  Mo 09.02.
  Karlsruhe, Badisches Staatstheater
  Brecht-Soiree
  Konstantin Wecker spielt mit neuen Musikern (8-Mann-Band)

  um 21.00 Uhr ca. 45 Minuten Brecht von seiner neuen CD.
  Anschließend spielt Georgette Dee, danach Gespräche über Brecht

  Sa 21.03.
  Neusäß/Augsburg, Stadthalle
  Premiere: Wecker singt Brecht und eigene Lieder
  Mit 8-Mann-Band

• Bertolt Brecht und die bildende Kunst
  Ausstellung zum 100. Geburtstag
  29. January bis 14. März 1998

  Galerie am Strausberger Platz 4
  10243 Berlin
  Tel. 49 - 30 / 241 1191
  Fax 49 - 30 / 247 9147

  75 Werke - Malerei, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, graphische Blätter - von: Fritz Cremer, Dieter Goltzsche, Bernhard Heisig, Karl-Georg Hirsch, Rolf Kuhrt, Arno Mohr, Gabriele Mucchi, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Ursula Mattheuer-Neustädt, Ronald Paris, Christine Perthen, Nuria Quevedo, Herbert Sandberg, Seltmann, Ingeborg Voß, Xago

• The Goethe Institute in Munich has prepared a travelling exhibit on Brecht that is available (contact the local Goethe Institute for further details).

• The Berlin Museum will be sponsoring an exhibit from its extensive theater collections on "Das Unterhaltungstheater Brechts" in 1998.

• The local cable TV channel in Augsburg has begun a 10-minute program with Bertolt Brecht news on the first Tuesday of each month under the title "Brecht-Shop". Kurt Idrizovic and his team from the quarterly journal Dreigroschenheft host the show on cable channel 9 during the local news show from 18:30-19:30.

• Brecht's childhood home in Augsburg reopens after complete renovation as a national monument on February 10, 1998, hopefully with the participation of Bundespräsident Roman Herzog

• the Bundespost plans a new stamp to commemorate Brecht's birthday in February 1998

• Lotte Lenya, an important "Brechtian" actress and the immortal Jenny in the original production of The Threepenny Opera in Berlin (1928) is 100 in 1998. A commemorative evening is planned by "Broadway Cares" on her birthday, October 18, 1998, at the Majestic Theater in New York City. See the Kurt-Weill-Foundation website for further information.

• Brecht's friend and collaborator, the composer Hanns Eisler, is also 100 in 1998. For further information, contact Albrecht Dümling (Hanns-Eisler-Gesellschaft), albrecht.duemling@t-online.de For further information, see the Hanns Eisler Homepage.

• Composer / performer Heiner Goebbels plans a new show in 1998 to celebrate Hanns Eisler's 100th birthday: Eislermaterial, together with the Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt) and actor Joseph Bierbichler. The premiere is scheduled for May 23, 1998, in Munich. For more information about Heiner Goebbels, please refer to his Homepage. For additional information about future produtions, consult the Plans for 1998 page.

• "Bentley on Brecht"
  An evening with dramatist, director, scholar, and Brecht-translator Eric Bentley Wednesday, December 16, 1998, 8 PM
  The National Arts Club of New York City (15 Gramercy Park South)
  Following the program there will be a reception and book-signing of Bentley on Brecht (Applause Books, 1998)
  Reservations are required for this free event
  (tel: 212 / 604-4823, or email: gshapirony@aol.com)

Planned Publications:

• Müller in America, edited by Dan Friedman
  (New York: Castillo Theatre, 2003)
  - includes a foreword by Carl Weber, the transcript of a public discussion about Müller between Robert Wilson and Fred Newman, and short essays by 15 U.S. and Canadian directors who have mounted Müller’s plays
  - order from: Castillo Theatre, Book Sales Department, 543 West 42 Street, New York, New York 10036
  - checks for $12 can be made out to Castillo Cultural Center
• New books on Helene Weigel planned for Weigel centenary: This year readers will have several competing volumes on Helene Weigel to choose from, including:
  • a biography by Carola Stern of the couple Brecht and Weigel (Rowohlt Verlag)
  • a biographical monograph on Weigel by Sabine Kebir (Aufbau Verlag)
  • a short biography by Christina Herold (Suhrkamp Verlag)
  • a biographically oriented volume of photos chosen Werner Hecht and accompanied by a complete list of theater and film roles as well as a long interview he conducted with Weigel in 1969 (Suhrkamp Verlag)
  • a volume of selected correspondence related to Weigel's theater career, edited by Stefan Mahlke (Verlag Theater der Zeit)
  • a completely revised version of Vera Tenschert's 1970 volume of Weigel photos, including now a CD-rom with voice and film excerpts (Henschel Verlag)
• Suhrkamp Verlag will complete the new "Grosse kommentierte Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe" of Brecht's works with the final index volume (ca. 1000 pages, expected 1999). It will include a report by the four main editors on the edition, some additional texts by Brecht that have been discovered since the editorial work began in 1988, corrections and additions to the notes and commentaries, a bibliography of the most important editions and secondary research literature, and - in the main section - five separate indices: 1) alphabetical index of Brecht titles, 2) index of personal names and works, 3) index of institutions, 4) index of periodicals, 5) index of all Bible passages mentioned by Brecht or in the editors' commentaries.
• Ernst Schumacher, Mein Brecht (Berlin: Eulenspiegel Verlag)

100 Jahre Brecht

Ringvorlesung aus Anlass des 100. Geburtstages Bertolt Brechts.
Berlin: Humboldt-Universität, 1999.
Mit Beiträgen von:
Frank Hörnigk, Volker Braun, B.K. Tragelehn, Friedrich Dieckmann, Stefan Mahlke, Ernst Schumacher, Ursula Heukenkamp, Erdmut Wizisla, Manfred Wekwerth, Gerhard Bauer, Paolo Chiarini, Marc Silberman, Gerd Rienäcker, Jost Hermand, Helmut Lethen.

Preis / Price = DM 12 + Versandkosten (postage)

zu beziehen über / order from:
Christian Hippe
c/o Lehrstuhl Hörnigk
Institut für Neuere Deutsche Literatur
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Schützenstr. 21
10099 Berlin
Fax 49 - 30 / 201 966 90

Suhrkamp Verlag plans the following events under the coordination of house editors Günter Berg and Wolfgang Jeske:

• publication of Brecht in Finnland by Hans-Peter Neureuther
• the catalogue of Brecht's personal library will be edited in cooperation with Dr. Erdmut Wizisla of the Brecht-Archiv in Berlin (in conjunction with the Archive's major exhibition at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin)
• completion of the thirty-volume Große Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe of Brecht's complete works (Suhrkamp and Aufbau Verlag)

Special centenary Brecht issue of Monatshefte
(Vol. XC, No. 3, Fall 1998)

articles by:

• Jost Hermand and Marc Silberman (University of Wisconsin), "Introduction: Brecht Today"
• Robert Cohen (New York University), "Brecht in Goldbach"
• Karla L. Schultz (University of Oregon), "Utopias from Hell: Brecht's Mahagonny and Adorno's Treasure of Indian Joe"
• Thomas Eickhoff (Universität Münster), "Keuner und Karajan im 'Kalten Krieg' - Die Versuche des Komponisten Gottfried von Einem, Bertolt Brecht für die Salzburger Festspiele zu gewinnen"
• Ernst Schumacher (Berlin), "Die Verurteilung der Roten Armee nach Bertolt Brecht"
• Helmut Peitsch (University of Wales), "'In den Zeiten der Schwäche...': Zu Spuren Brechts in der europäischen Debatte über engagierte Literatur"

To order, contact:
Journals Department
University of Wisconsin Press
Madison, WI 53718
Tel. 800 / 829-9559
Fax 800 / 473-8310

Other Publications Listed alphabetically

• drive b: Brecht 100. Ein Arbeitsbuch / A Sourcebook. Cooperative project of the Brecht Yearbook and Theater der Zeit, edited by Marc Silberman (October 1997).
  Fax number for Theater der Zeit is: 49 - 30 / 24 722 415.
• Eric Bentley, Bentley on Brecht (New York: Applause, 1998) ISBN 1-55783-331-1
• Werner Hecht, Chronik zu Brecht (2 volumes, 1600+ pages; Suhrkamp Verlag)
• Jürgen Hillesheim, Augsburger Brecht-Lexikon
• Jürgen Hillesheim and Uta Wolf, eds., reprint of the students' journal Der Ernte (November 1913 - October 1914) in which Brecht published his first texts
• Methuen Publishers in London will add several new volumes to Brecht's works in English, including a volume of the Lehrstücke, an expanded two-volume anthology of Brecht's writings on Theatre and Theory (translated by John Willett and Carl Weber), Brecht on Art and Politics (translated by Tom Kuhn and Steve Giles), and Brecht on Film and Radio (translated by Marc Silberman)
• correspondence between Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel (Suhrkamp Verlag)

Newspaper Publications

• Brecht auf! Zum 100. Geburtstag des armen B. B. schreiben Prominente und weniger Prominente in einer taz-Serie. Vom 3. Januar bis zum 28. Januar 1998. Hier erreichen Sie weitere Informationen.

For more information go to the Brecht Bibliography page.

Communications from IBS

View the Table of Contents for the latest issue of Communications.

• Volume 26, Number 1 - Cover Illustration
• Volume 26, Number 2 - Cover Illustration
• Volume 27, Number 1 - Cover Illustration
• Volume 27, Number 2 - Cover Illustration
• Volume 28, Number 1 - Available as PDF file
• Volume 29, Numbers 1-2 - Available as PDF file
• Volume 30, Numbers 1-2 - Available as PDF file
• Volume 31 - Available as PDF file
• Volume 32 - Available as PDF file
• Volume 33 - Cover Illustration - Available as PDF file
• Volume 34 - Cover Illustration - Available as PDF file

Exhibitions:

• the exhibit of Brecht's personal library organized by the Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin is running this summer (1998) at the Literaturhaus in München; besides an exhibition catalogue, Suhrkamp Verlag will be publishing a scholarly bibliography of Brecht's library.
• the Poster Museum in Bayreuth is planning an exhition of international theater and exhibition posters focusing on Brecht and his contemporaries (Valentin, Zuckmayer, Feuchtwanger, etc.) to open on February 10, 1998; anyone who has relevant posters to offer the museum should contact
  Dr. Joachim Schultz,
  im Bayreuther Plakatmuseum:
  Brecht-Plakate (1949-1998)
  10. 2. - 30. 3. 1998
  Information: 00-49-921- 55 36 36
• a travelling exhibition of photos and texts produced by the city of Augsburg
• a travelling package of Brecht films sponsored by the Goethe Institute

For more information on activities in Augsburg, please consult the Augsburg Homepage. They have a more complete and up-to-date list of all to Brecht's Centenary celebrations.

Brechts Ostasien
An exhibit organized by former IBS President Antony Tatlow
Brecht-Haus, Chausseestr. 125, Berlin
January 23 - July 7, 1998

for information: 49 - 30 / 282 34 17

(catalog for the exhibit: Parthas Verlag, Berlin)

Conferences:

North America | South America | Europe | Asia | Africa

North America

• The Goethe Institute in Atlanta, Georgia will be sponsoring a series of events.
• Brecht, Weimar Germany & Cabaret Culture: A Weekend Seminar Featuring a Performance of The Threepenny Opera by the PlayMakers Repertory Company, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
• West Coast Centennial Festival - 100th Birthday of Poet-Dramatist Bertolt Brecht.
• 10th Symposium of the International Brecht Society (late May 1998, University of California in San Diego, contact John Rouse)

• Revisiting Brecht at the End of the Twentieth Century
  November 13-14, 1998
  Rarig Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

  An International Brecht Symposium in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Brecht's birth and in conjunction with the American English-language premiere of a newly-authorized translation of Brecht's last play Turandot, translated and directed by Anja Klöck and produced by University Theatre at the University of Minnesota.

  Friday, November 13

  1:30-2:30 PM:
  Peter Kupke (Theatre Director, Frankfurt/Main) "How Can We Use Brecht's Ideas and Methods in the Contemporary Theater."

  3:00-6:00 PM: Panel Discussion - "Is Brecht Relevant?: Doing Political Theater in an anti-Political World"

  • Erika Munk (Yale School of Drama): "Practice, Theory and the Hopeless Attempt to Neutralize Bertolt Brecht"
  • Marc Silberman (University of Wisconsin): "Brecht's Interventionist Thinking: Reflections on the Nature of Politics and Theater Today"
  • Martin Walsh (University of Michigan): "Teaching and Producing Brecht with Generation X."

  8:00 PM: Performance of Turandot

  Saturday, November 14

  11:00 AM-2:00 PM: Workshop - "Performing Brecht: One Problem, Many Solutions" Conducted in tandem by Peter Kupke and Carl Weber.

  Using a scene from Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle, two directors who were members of the Berliner Ensemble will work with participants to demonstrate Brechtian performance techniques.

  3:00-4:00 PM:
  Carl Weber (Stanford University) - "Brecht's Narrative of Images, or Showing the Fable"

  4:30-6:00 PM: Round Table - "Brecht's Message to the 21st Century"

  A free-wheeling plenary round table discussion that brings together all the invited guest participants. Moderated by Michal Kobialka (University of Minnesota)

  8:00 PM: Performance of Turandot

  For information, contact David Bernstein at the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance
  Tel. (612) 625-0373
  Fax (612) 625-6334
  E-mail: berns009@tc.umn.edu
  For ticket Information to Turandot, call the box office at (612) 624-2345

• The IBS at the Modern Language Association Conference
  Dec. 27-30, 1998
  San Francisco, CA

  As an affiliate organization of the Modern Language Association, the IBS regularly sponsors two special sessions at the annual conference from December 27-30. This year's sessions are:

  (Session 61) Brecht, Jews, and Judaism

  Sunday, 27 Dec., 5:15 - 6:30 pm, Fountain Room, Fairmont Hotel

  Presider: Guy Stern (Wayne State University, Detroit)

  1. David Blostein (University of Toronto)
     "Worth of the Worthless": A Prolegomena

  2. James K. Lyon (Brigham Young University, Provo)
     "Teaching Brecht and the Holocaust"

  3. Katrin Sieg (Indiana University, Bloomington)
     "Race, Whiteness, and Alienation Effect"

  Respondent: Siegfried Mews (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

  (Session 287) Women Performing Brecht

  Monday, 28 Dec., 12:00 noon - 1:15 pm, Garden Room, Fairmont Hotel

  Presider: Maarten van Dijk (University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)

  1. Elin Diamond (Rutgers University, New Brunswick)
     "Brecht Hurston, and the Performance of Social Life"

  2. Frauke Meyer-Gosau (Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung, Darmstadt)
     "Therese Giehse Playing Brecht"

  3. Julie Klassen (Carleton College, Northfield)
     "New Approaches to Interpreting Women's Roles"

  Respondent: Maarten van Dijk (University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)

  NOTE: an informal and open IBS business meeting over a relaxed dinner will follow Session 61. All those interested in organizing IBS sessions for the 1999 MLA conference should be sure to attend, or contact Siegfried Mews with suggestions. The future of the IBS journal "Communications" will also be under discussion, including nominations for a new editor (please communicate your suggestions).

South America

• conference in Rio de Janeiro on August 26-28, 1998 (contact Klaus Vetter: Girjinstitut@wg.easyline.com.br Goethe Institute, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

  Sechs Fragen über Bert Brecht / Six Questions about Bert Brecht

  Program:

  Wedn., 26 August, 14.30
  #1: Welche Bedeutung hat Brecht für Lateinamerika und welche speziell für Brasilien?
  What is Brecht's significance for Latin America and especially for Brazil?
  Ramon Griffero, Chile; Rodolfo Obregon Rodriguez, Mexico; Fernando Peixoto, Brazil.
  Moderator: Luiz Fernando Lobo, Brazil.

  Wedn., 26 August, 17.00
  #2: Gibt es "neue" Wege zum "alten" Brecht, und welches Publikum kann er heute noch erreichen?
  Are there "new" paths to the "old" Brecht, and what audience can he reach today?
  Gerd Bornheim, Brazil; Antony Tatlow, Ireland; Robert Cohen, USA.
  Moderator: Marc Silberman, USA.

  Thurs., 27 August, 14.30
  #3: Welche Bedeutung hatte Brecht für die Zweite Welt oder ist der sozialistische Realismus an Brecht gescheitert?
  What significance does Brecht have for the Second World, or has Socialist Realism failed with Brecht?
  Leandro Konder, Brazil; Volker Braun, Germany; Reinaldo Montero, Cuba.
  Moderator: Fernando Peixoto, Brazil.

  Thurs., 27 August, 17.00
  #4: Wann wird die "Ausnahme" zur "Regel" oder wo findet im Umkehrschluß die "Brechtsche Verfremdung" ihr Ende?
  When does the "exception" become the "rule," or when does "Brechtian alienation" find itself reversed?
  Luiz Fernando Lobo, Brazil; Alexander Stillmark, Germany; John Willett,England.
  Moderator: Gerd Bornheim, Brazil.

  Fri., 28 August, 14.30
  #5: Ist ein "eingreifendes Denken" im Sinne Brechts noch vorstellbar?
  Is "interventionist thinking" in Brecht's sense still imaginable?
  Marcio Meirelles, Brazil; Marc Silberman, USA; Augusto Boal, Brazil.
  Moderator: Alexander Stillmark, Germany.

  Fri., 28 August, 17.00
  #6: Kann man heute als Kunstschaffender noch politisch progressiv arbeiten?
  Is it possible today as an artist to work in a politically progressive way?
  Osvaldo Dragun, Argentina; Peter Palitzsch, Germany; Moacyr Goes,Brazil.
  Moderator: Reinaldo Montero, Cuba.

  Other events during the symposium include a Brecht/Weill song performance by Suzana Salles and the Premiere of "Arturo Ui" in a production by the well-known Brazilian director Antonio Abujamra.

  Symposium site:
  Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
  Rua 1 de Marco 66
  Rio de Janeiro
  Tel.: 2160626 und 2160237

  For further information, contact:
  Dr. Klaus Vetter, Director, Goethe Institute
  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  email: goetherio@easyline.com.br

Europe

• Le Parole del Teatro / The words of the theatre presents:

  Bertolt Brecht: "ABOLITO IL CIELO!" / "THE SKY BANNED!"
  July 10 - 12, 1998
  Auditorium della Cassa di Risparmio di San Miniato S.p.A.

  PROGRAM

  Friday, July 10th
  Chairman: Luigi Maria Musati (Director of the Accademia Nazionale D'Arte Drammatica "Silvio D'Amico" - Rome)
  Opening of the congress: Maria Fancelli (Chairman of the Culture Commitee in San Miniato)
  Opening lecture: Roberto Tessari (Professor of Theatre History, University of Turin)
  "Science/Coscience" lecture: Aldo Giorgio Gargani (Professor of Philosophy, University of Pisa)
  Interview: Ugo Gregoretti (Principle of the Accademia "Silvio D'Amico" ) interviews Marisa Fabbri (actress)

  Saturday, July 11th
  Chairman: Luciano Zagari (Professor of German Literature - University of Pisa)
  "Tradition": round table with Peter Palitzsch and Stephan Suschke (Berliner Ensemble), introduced by Luciano Zagari
  Interview: Marco Sciaccaluga (director and acting teacher) interviews Benno Besson (director)

  Sunday, July 12th
  Chairman: Aldo Giorgio Gargani
  "Freundlichkeit" lectures: Cesare Cases (scholar and journalist), Francisco Jarauta (Professor of Aesthetics, University of Murcia) Round Table: Luigi Squarzina (director), Roberto Guicciardini (director), Marco Sciaccaluga, Moni Ovadia (actor), Franco Scaldati (director), introduced by Andrea Camilleri (director, novelist).

  In cooperation with The Goethe Institute

  [contact = lmucci@pisoft.it]

• The 9th annual Festival de Bobigny takes place from March 11-27, 1998. Events include film screenings, discussions with guests such as Barbara Brecht-Schall, theater directors Didier Bezace, Bernard Sobel, Stéphane Braunschweig, Benno Besson, Marcel Maréchal, Georges Lavaudant, Manfred Wekwerth, and film makers Alexander Kluge, Margarethe von Trotta, Jean-Claude Biette, Jean-Luc Godard.
  Bobigny is located outside Paris. For information, contact:
  Dominique Bax
  c/o Magic Cinéma
  Rue du Chemin Vert
  93000 Bobigny
  France
  Fax 33 - 1 / 48 95 41 59
• "... und mein Werk ist der Abgesang des Jahrtausends"
  Conference sponsored by the Akademie der Künste.
  For more information see the entire schedule.
• Oxford University's Centenary Celebration
  1) BRECHT'S 100th: a celebration on 10 February 1998
  ****at 12 noon, in the Taylor Institution: John Willett will give a special guest lecture entitled Absorbing Brecht
  ****at 3pm, in the Taylor Institution: there will be a showing of the Dreigroschenfilm by GW Pabst (1930)
  ****at 8pm, New College: there will be a reception and recital, with performances of Brecht songs by Eva Meier and with readings by local poets (David Constantine, Jamie McKendrick, Tom Paulin and others).
  2) STREIT UND GELÄCHTER: a seminar on Brecht's poetry
  on Thursdays at 5.15pm in New College, from 12 February to 12 March, and from 30 April to 21 May (speakers include Hans-Harald Müller, Elizabeth Boa, Michael Minden, Ron Speirs, Tom Kuhn, Karen Leeder...).
• Brecht Collecti(e)f and Via Lucas (Belgium) is planning an Eisler/Brecht evening:
  {beeld}spraak van {wan}hoop & Hollywood Songbook A combination exhibition, small book publication, and recital ( bariton + piano). For the first time the texts of the Hollywood Songbook have been translated by Thomas Vandecasteele into Dutch. For further information, contact:
  Via Lucis
  c/o Thomas Vandecasteele
  Sint-Widostraat 7
  9000 Gent
  Belgium
  0032 9 233.30.66 (fax)
  0032 9 225.34.39 (tel)
  
  The folllowing link will be available starting mid-January. Please consult it then.
  http://vialucis.2-be.net

• Ecole Normale Supérieure
  Université de Paris III
  Université de Paris IV
  Maison Heinrich Heine

  avec le concours de l'Ambassade d'Allemagne et de L'Arche Editeur:
  

  Bertolt Brecht:entre théâtre et théorie

  Maison Heinrich Heine, Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris
  2 - 6 octobre 1998

  Programme:

  Vendredi 2 et samedi 3 octobre 1998

  20h30: La Maison Heinrich Heine et l'Université de Paris VIII Saint-Denis présentent:

  • Mahagonny Songspiel
    de Kurt Weill et Bertolt Brecht

    par l'Ensemble Weill de la Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler (Berlin), Direction: Stewart Emerson

  • Minnesang
    d'Emmanuel Nunes

    par l'ensemble Soli tutti, Direction: Denis Gautheyrie

    Entrée: 60 F / 30 F.

  Dimanche 4 octobre 1998

  18h30: "Change le monde: il en a besoin"
  Hommage sans frac ni cérémonie à Hanns Eisler
  Jörg Stickan, chant. Emmanuel Dupart, arrangements. Irène Bonnaud, conception.

  Entrée: 40 F / 20 F.

  20h00: Vernissage
  La gestualité du théâtre de Brecht
  Photographies d'Eva Kemlein

  Lundi 5 octobre 1998

  Colloque international
  Pour le centième anniversaire de la naissance de Brecht

  • 9h00: Accueil des intervenants. Ouverture: Jean-Marie Valentin, Paris IV, IUF
  • 10h00-12h00: Anarchiste ou fonctionnaire: du "mauvais" Brecht à celui de la "maturité" (Modérateur: Jean-Pierre Morel, Paris III) Hans-Thies Lehmann, Francfort: Drame et choeur dans le théâtre de Brecht des années 20. - Rainer Nägele, Baltimore: La scène de l'Autre / l'Autre scène: entre(nt) Brecht et Artaud. - Jean Jourdheuil, Paris: Brecht, orthodoxie et littérature.
  • 13h30-15h15: "Pauvreté, froideur, finitude": le Brecht baroque (Modérateur: Michel Cadot, Paris III) Albrecht Klöpfer, Tokyo: Le combat contre la métaphysique. La situation poétologique de Brecht au début des années 20. - Francine Maier-Schaeffer, Amiens: "Le pétrole se rebiffe contre les cinq actes." Les fragments du jeune Brecht, "accidents du travail" ou laboratoire dramaturgique? - Marielle Silhouette, Cergy-Pontoise: Le fragment Jean la chance (Hans im Glück) ou le théâtre comme lieu d'échanges.
  • 15h30-16h45: Le plaisir du jeu (Modérateur: Lionel Richard, Amiens) Irène Bonnaud, Amiens: La poudre et le feu d'artifice. À propos de la version américaine de Galilée. - Patricia Hongisto, Turku: Le plaisir du jeu - plaisir de la pensée ou lutte pour l'argumentation?
  • 17h00-19h00: L'aprés-Brecht: théâtre et théorie Table ronde au Théâtre de la Cité Internationale, avec Georges Lavaudant (directeur de l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe, Paris), Alain Milianti (directeur du Théâtre du Volcan, Le Havre), Jean-François Peyret (metteur en scène, Paris), et (sous réserve) Marie-Noëlle Rio (metteur en scène, Colmar), Stéphane Braunschweig (metteur en scène, Paris).
  • 20h00: Théâtre de la Cité Internationale:
    L'Institut Goethe présente:
    "Mann ist Mann (Homme pour homme)
    de Brecht, spectacle en langue allemande surtitré.
    Mise en scène: Thomas Ostermeier. Renseignements: 01.43.12.50.50

  Mardi 6 octobre 1998

  • 9h30-12h00: Théâtralité et politique: les "essais" de Brecht (Modératrice: Ruth Vogel, ENS Paris) Etienne Balibar, Paris X: Théâtralité et politique. - Beatrice Hanssen, Harvard: Walter Benjamin et Bertolt Brecht, histoire d'une amitié. - Nikolaus Müller-Schöll, ENS Paris: La notion d' "Einverständnis": accord, approbation, connivence ou pardon? Brecht entre Kafka et Carl Schmitt. - Daniel Mortier, Rouen: Quelques aspects relativement non déterminés dans l'Opéra de quat'sous.
  • 13h30-15h15: Le texte de la théorie: Brecht et la rhétorique (Modérateur: Jean Bessière, Paris III) Günther Heeg, Francfort: Le corps de Brecht. - Ulrike Hass, Berlin: À propos de Die Maßnahme. - Susanne Winnacker, Francfort: Stratégies de l'écriture, Die Massnahme et Dickicht.
  • 15h30-16h30: Conclusions
  • 17h00-19h00: Théâtre de la Cité Internationale:
    L'Institut Goethe présente: Jouer Brecht. Table ronde autour de la mise en scène de Thomas Ostermeier

  Toutes les communications sont en français et feront l'objet d'une publication.
  Direction scientifique: Jean-Pierre Morel, Paris III, Nikolaus Müller-Schöll, ENS Paris, Jean-Marie Valentin, Paris IV, IUF.
  Adresse du colloque et des manifestations: Maison Heinrich Heine, Fondation de l'Allemagne, 27 c, Bd Jourdan, 75014 Paris, Tél. 01 44 16 13 00, Fax 01 44 16 13 01. E-Mail: hhumlauf@worldnet.fr

• More information concerning the Oslo-Conference can be found on the IBS page at the following link.
• Maßnahme-Tagung, July 2-5, 1998, Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus, Berlin. The official title is "Maßnehmen: Brechts Maßnahme damals und heute" contact Florian Vaßen)
• Brecht-Tage 1998
  Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus
  6. - 12. Februar

  Freitag, 6.2. 20 Uhr: Der Abend der Editioren [Literaturforum]
  Moderation - Erdmut Wizisla
  Mit Werner Hecht, Albrecht Kloepfer, Jan Knopf, Klaus Völker
  Samstag, 7.2. 15 Uhr: Der Nachmittag der Regisseure [Berliner Ensemble]
  Moderation - Friedrich Dieckmann
  Mit Frank Castorf, Thomas Langhoff, Peter Palitzsch, Christoph Schlingensief, B. K. Tragelehn
  Samstag, 7.2. 20 Uhr: Der Abend der Biographinnen und Biographen [Literaturforum]
  Moderation - Klaus Völker
  Mit Sabine Kebir, Regula Venske, Carl Pietzcker, John Willett
  Sonntag, 8.2. 11 Uhr: Festvortrag [Berliner Ensemble]
  Adolf Dresen - Brechts Jahrhundert
  Sonntag, 8.2. 20 Uhr: Der Abend des Films: Erinnerungen an das frühe BE (Berliner Ensemble)
  Moderation - Wolfgang Gersch
  Mit Egon Monk, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, Peter Voigt
  Montag, 9.2. 23 Uhr: Die Nacht der Dichter [Literaturforum]
  Moderation - Kerstin Hensel
  Mit Volker Braun, Peter Gosse, Rainer Kirsch, Wulf Kirsten, Karl Mickel, Thomas Rosenlöcher, B. K. Tragelehn

  Dienstag, 10.2. 10 Uhr: Blumen für Brecht [Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof]
  Dienstag, 10.2. 11 Uhr: Der Vormittag der Literaturwissenschaft [Literaturforum]
  Moderation - Helmut Lethen
  Mit Judith Wilke, Nikolaus Müller-Schöll, Patrick Primavesi
  Mittwoch, 11.2. 20 Uhr: Ästhetische Theorie und Philosophie bei Brecht [Literaturforum]
  Moderation - Gerd Irrlitz
  Mit Karlheinz Barck, Klaus Scherpe, Jörg Zimmermann
  Donnerstag, 12.2. 20 Uhr: Der Abend der Stückeschreiber [Literaturforum]
  Moderation: Volker Braun
  Mit Hartmut Lange, Karl Mickel, Albert Ostermaier, Lothar Trolle

  Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus, Berlin: contact Dr. Therese Hörnigk.

• "Discussing Brecht", a conference focusing on "Brecht in English" and "New Approaches to Brecht" on May 1-2 at the Beckett Theatre of Dublin University (Ireland); participants include John Willett, Carl Weber, Tom Kuhn, and Janelle Reinelt, among others. For further information, contact:
  Antony Tatlow
  (email = atatlow@tcd.ie) at Trinity College,
  Graduate Centre for Arts Research,
  University of Dublin, Room 3158,
  Arts Building,
  Dublin 2, Ireland
  (fon = 353 1 / 608 2587).
• in December 1997 the "Cattedra die Tedesco dell-Istituto di Lingue Straniere" at the University of Milan is planning a conference under the title "1989-1998 Poesia e politica - Bertolt Brecht a 100 anni dalla nascita" (Internationales Symposium - Poesie und Politik: 100 Jahre Bertolt Brecht December 10-11, 1997, Milan, Italy)
  Presentations by Cesares Cases, Hans Thies Lehmann, Ernst Schumacher, Klaus Völker, Helmut Gier, Luigi Forte, Paola Barbon, Peter Palitzsch, Andrzej Wirth, Gerd Koch, Paul Kroker, Joachim Lucchesi
  For information contact:
  Michael Paul Kroker in the Department of Political Science,
  fon 201-858, fax 295 24 476.
  For further information, contact:
  Universita degli Studi di Milano,
  Instituto di Lingue Staniere,
  20122 Milano,
  Via Conservatorio 7,
  Italy,
  fax 39-2 / 760 13 007

• The Centre for Performance Research announces:
  The Fourth Pastmasters Series on Bertolt Brecht & Sergei Eisenstein
  27- 29 November 1998
  Aberystwyth, Wales, United Kingdom

  In the centenary year of their births the international symposium brings together key practitioners and leading scholars on Brecht and Eisenstein to consider their work and influence on contemporary theatre. Events over the three-day period will include:

  • workshop with Clive Barker on "Third Person Past Tense" acting
  • workshop with Jörg Mihan on "Reading and Acting Brecht Today"
  • symposium presentations Sally Banes (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Birgit Beumers (University of Bristol), Martin Brady, Lars Kleberg (University of Stockholm), Robert Leach (University of Birmingham), Meg Mumford (University of Glasgow) and Amy Sargeant (Plymouth), Richard Taylor (University of Wales), Elizabeth Wright (Girton College), Rosamund Bartlett, Oksana Bulgakowa, and Peter Thompson (University of Exeter)
  • film screenings
  • an original theater production by Ralf Rauker (Berlin) called "Brecht. Eisenstein, Meyerhold and Mei Lan Fang"

  The Centre for Performance Research Ltd. works with the support of the Arts Council of Wales. For Past Masters - Brecht & Eisenstein the Centre gratefully acknowledges the support of the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

  For more information, contact:
  Centre for Perfornance Research
  8 Science Park
  Aberystwyth
  SY23 3AH
  Wales, UK
  Tel: +44 (0) 1970 622 133
  Fax: +44 (0) 1970 622 132
  Email: cprwww@aber.ac.uk
  http://www.aber.ac.uk~cprwww

• Bertolt Brecht: Ideologie, Theorie, Theater

  Brecht-Konferenz zum 100. Geburtstages des Schriftstellers am 8. 2. 1998
  Am 2. und 3. Oktober 1998 im Maison Heinrich Heine, Paris

  Dem Common Sense zufolge ist Bertolt Brecht zwar der wichtigste Dramatiker dieses Jahrhunderts, doch zugleich auch der langweiligste: Der alte Bekannte, den es mitunter noch zu pflegen gilt, der Lehrer, von dem keiner mehr belehrt werden mag, der Pfarrer ohne Gott, der Klassiker von "durchschlagender Wirkungslosigkeit". Seine Stücke gelten als politisch mehr oder weniger korrekt aber langweilig, seine Theorie als zu unscharf oder unrealisierbar.

  Im Verlauf der Pariser Konferenz soll dagegen untersucht werden, ob die allgemeine Brecht-Müdigkeit nicht dem antiquierten Brecht-Bild einer Generation von Theaterleuten und Lesern geschuldet ist, deren künstlerische oder politische Sozialisation durch die Begriffe und Konzepte Brechts geprägt wurde: Noch immer gilt Brecht den Rechten als ideologischer Dramatiker, fleißiger Theoretiker und genialer Lyriker, den Linken als der junge Wilde, der im Durchgang durch Großstadterfahrung und Marx-Lektüre zum reifen Dramatiker des wissenschaftlichen Zeitalters wird. Es könnte sein, daß diese zwei Schemata mehr über die Logik und Ideologie des kalten Krieges verraten als über Brechts Werk.

  Unter den Tisch gefallen sind auf jeden Fall die Widersprüchlichkeit speziell der früheren Stücke und Texte, die den expliziten Positionen gegenläufigen literarischen, bzw. rhetorischen Strategien der theoretischen Abhandlungen, die "gegenaufklärerischen" oder doch zumindest ketzerischen Provokationen in Notizen, Fragmenten und überlieferten Gesprächen, und allgemeiner: Eine in Theatertexten und "Lehrstücktheorie" sedimentierte Theorie, die dem Kontext der europäischen Avantgarden von Baudelaire über Rimbaud und die Surrealisten bis zu Artaud und der Philosophie von Nietzsche bis Heidegger näher steht als der über sich selbst hdufig unaufgeklärten aufklärerischen Theaterpraxis, die sich auf der Grundlage von Brechts expliziter Theorie im politisch intendierten Theater entwickelt hat.

  Zur Ausgrabung dieses anderen, explosiveren, da weniger frommen Brecht möchten wir alle einladen, die in ihm einen Gesprächspartner für heutiges Theater und heutige Theorie wiederzuentdecken vermögen, neben den Literatur-und Theaterwissenschaftlern deshalb speziell auch Philosophen, Theaterleute, Filmemacher und Schriftsteller. Wir schlagen folgende sechs Sektionen vor:

  1. "Vom Anarchisten zum Funktionär": Vom "bösen" zum "reifen" Brecht
  2. "Armut", "Kälte", "Endlichkeit": Der barocke Brecht
  3. Moderne und Modernitätserfahrung: Der (Gegen-)Aufklärer Brecht
  4. Theatralität und Politik: Die "Versuche" Brechts
  5. Der Text der Theorie: Der Rhetoriker Brecht
  6. Die Lust am Spiel

  Konferenzsprache: Französisch, in Ausnahmefällen Deutsch oder Englisch. Vorschläge (30 Zeilen - 60 Anschläge) für Vorträge in Länge von 20 - 25 Minuten sollten bis zum 31. 3. 98 an folgende Adresse geschickt werden:
  Nikolaus Müller-Schöll, Icole Normale Supirieure, 45, rue d'Ulm, 75230 Paris, e-mail: nikolaus@elias.ens.fr

Asia

• Brecht adaptation in Delhi, India
  Suman Kumar directed in September 2005 an adaptation of Brecht's The Exception and the Rule at Lakshmi Bai Women's College of Delhi University (India). Fifteen 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-year women students participated in the production, which also included a scene from the famous Hindi play Andher Nagri Choupat Raja (Dark City and Worst King) as well as a satirical insert.

  Music: Gyandeep
  Choreography: Pratibha Singh
  Set design: Bhuneshwar Bhaskar
  For information, contact Suman Kumar (sumanpratibha@rediffmail.com)

• The Korean Brecht Society is planning a conference on the occasion of the Brecht centenary during the last week of September, 1998, in Seoul. The theme is: "Rückblick und Vorblick auf Brecht im Post-Sozialismus und Post-Modernismus". For further information, contact:
  Dr. Hyung-Ki Kim,
  Department of German,
  Soonchunhyang University,
  Choongnam Asan, P.O. Box97,
  Choongnam: 336-600,
  Republic of Korea
  Fax 418 / 530 1491.

Africa

• IV. Johannesburger Germanistentreffen: 100 Jahre Brecht - Brechts Jahrhundert?
  Rand Afrikaans University, Johannesburg, South Africa
  March 26-28, 1998 (by invitation)
  For information contact:
  Prof. Dr. Hans-Joerg Knobloch
  Rand Afrikaans University
  Department of German
  P.O. Box 524
  ZA-2006 Auckland Park
  Rep. of South Africa
  Tel. 27 / 11 / 489-2724
  Fax. 27 / 11 / 489-2797
  email: HJK@rau1.rau.ac.za

Theater Productions:

Berliner Ensemble, now with its own link on the International Brecht Society Homepage. Please go to this link for the latest on news and information concerning the Berliner Ensemble.

• The Theatre of NOTE is staging its World Premiere production of Brecht and Auden's The Duchess of Malfi. As the press release states:

  It is amazing that no one has staged this powerful adaptation, but according to both the Brecht estate's American legal representative and the Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv in Berlin, this piece has never been produced. Until now. After a year and a half of research and negotiations, the rights to premiere this piece have been granted to Pilgrimage Theatre and Theatre of NOTE for a co-production opening July 31, 1998 in Los Angeles.

• Revising Germany, an original play by Fred Newman, runs from Friday, September 18 through Sunday, October 25 at the Castillo Theatre in New York City as a contribution to the Brecht Centenary. The play features the characters of Bertolt Brecht and Heiner M|ller, who both abhorred much of what came to be associated with their fatherland and sift through the failures of the 20th century to discover whether anything can be built with the wreckage.

• Castillo Theatre also will be hosting two special concerts by the German chanteuse Eva Meier, who will be making her North American concert debut at Castillo on October 17 and 18, singing the music of Kurt Weil and Hanns Eisler.

  Stephan Suschke, artistic director of the Berliner Ensemble, will join Fred Newman, artistic director of New York's Castillo Theatre, in a wide-ranging dialogue on Brecht, Brecht's legacy, and the future of political theatre Sunday, October 25th at 4:00 p.m. at the Castillo Theatre.

  For additional information, contact Roger Grunwald at 212 / 941-5800 (ph.), 212 / 941-8340 (fax) or E-mail at rogergrun@worldnet.att.net.

• The New York City Opera is reviving Anne Bogart's critically acclaimed and controversial production of Seven Deadly Sins in September/October 1998.

• The Chicago Lyric Opera is mounting The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in Fall 1998, directed by David Alden with sets and costumes designed by Paul Steinberg and conducted by Sylvain Cambreling. The cast includes: Catherine Malfitano, Kim Begley, Felicity Palmer, John Duykers, Timothy Nolen, Brad Cresswell, Raymond Aceto, and Michael Devlin. The show opens on November 14 and runs in repertory through mid December 1998.

• The Salzburg Festival is producing Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny in July/August 1998, directed by Peter Zadek with sets by Richard Peduzzi, costumes by Norma Moriceau, and conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. The cast includes: Dame Gwyneth Jones, Roy Smith, Wilbur Pauley, Catherine Malfitano, Jerry Hadley, Udo Holdorf, Dale Duesing, and Toby Spence.

• London's Royal National Theatre is planning a new production of The Threepenny Opera in 2000.

• In the centenary year of Brecht's Birth, Director David Ritchie, has assembled an exciting cast and creative team, including Gertraud Ingeborg (star of the soon to be release film Fifteen Amore) as Mother Courage and Australian Composer Ann Carr-Boyd to provide the original music. The New Theatre's production of Bertolt Brecht's 1941 masterpiece "Mother Courage" opens on September 5. For more details see: http://www.ramin.com.au/online/newtheatre.html

• October 22-25, 1998
  Bertolt Brecht, The Caucasian Chalk Circle
  The Skidmore Department of Theater
  Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater
  Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY.
  For reservations call 518-580-5430
  (email Joan Lane at: jlane@scott.skidmore.edu)

• Galileo
  MATC Performing Arts
  November 6, 7, 13, 14
  Patrick Barlow, Artistic Director of the Performing Arts Center of the Madison Area Technical College, announces a production of Galileo on Nov. 6-7 and 13-14. The production uses video technology and the concept of a video documentary being shot about Galileo in an original "alienation effect" that highlights some of the issues raised by the play.
  Contact: wbarlow@madison.tec.wi.us

• The Cherub Company in London announces a new production of Brecht's adaptation of Marlowe's The Life of Edward the Second of England, directed by Andrew Visnevski with music by Julian Dawes. The production is going on tour through January to: Chipping Norton, Reading University, Horsham, Mansfield, Fareham, The Place Theatre in London, Glasgow University, and Riverside Studio 2 in London. For information, contact Ann Rau Dawes, asrd@compuserve.com

Journals:

The quarterly journal Monatshefte is publishing a special issue on Brecht (Vol. 90, Nr. 3, Fall 1998) with articles by Robert Cohen, Thomas Eickhoff, Helmut Peitsch, Karla Schultz, Ernst Schumacher. Edited by Jost Hermand and Marc Silberman, the volume can be ordered from:

Journals DepartmentUniversity of Wisconsin Press
2537 Daniels St.
Madison, WI 53718
Fax 608 / 224 3883

TDR (The Drama Review), edited by Richard Schechner at New York University is planning a special Brecht issue under the guest editorship of Dr. Susanne Winnacker (University of Frankfurt). It is scheduled to appear in Spring 1999. For information, contact the guest editor:

Heinrichstr. 5
60327 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
Tel.: 49 - 69 / 7982-8320
Fax: 59 - 69 / 7982-8285

Film Projects:

• Jutta Brückner, film professor at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, is planning a feature film on Brecht that will be ready for 1998; the working title of Jutta Brückner's film is: "Bertolt Brecht - Liebe, Revolution und andere gefährliche Sachen" (producer: Top Story, Babelsberg);
• Christoph Schmidt has been commissioned by Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) and ARTE (the German-French cultural tv channel) to make a 60-minute television film called "Mit Brecht in Moskau"; according to Schmidt it will not be a biographical film about Brecht in Berlin but rather a film about Moscow today as Brecht might have seen it.
• Joachim Lang (Süddeutscher Rundfunk, SDR) is producing a 3-part documentary of 60 minutes each on Brecht's life, "Brecht - der Dichter und sein Jahrhundert", to be shown on ARTE (Franco-German cultural broadcasting program) and ARD stations; much new material from archives in the U.S., Russia, and Denmark is to be used as well as unfamiliar images from early DEFA newsreels
• Jan Schütte is directing a 3-part television film (screenplay Klaus Pohl) for WDR (Westdeutscher Runkfunk), to be produced by the Beitinghoff Film-Produktionsgesellschaft
• Inter Nationes, the autonomous cultural agency for the Federal Republic of Germany, has produced for the Brecht centenary a video magazine called "Kubus" including an interview with theater director Hansgünther Heyme about Brecht as director as well as excerpts from rehearsals of Heyme's new productionof The Threepenny Opera. The video is available in German with subtitles in English, French, or Spanish from local Goethe Institutes.
• The New York Museum of Television and Radio is producing a 10-week TV series to commemorate Kurt Weill, Lotte Lenya, and Bertolt Brecht: "Threepennies and a Touch of Venus". The first section, "Berlin to Broadway," includes highlights of several made-for-TV adaptations of Weill's musicals, while the second section, "Weill + Lenya + Brecht," features rare clips, interviews, profiles, and performances. The series will begin on September 18, 1998.

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