International Brecht Society
Picture of Bertolt Brecht

The International Brecht Society Homepage is maintained as a service to scholars, critics, students, and theater people round the world who are interested in the works and thought of Brecht. Readers of the IBS website are encouraged to send announcements and information for posting. Please email the website Technical Supervisor. Mail or faxes sent to the website Managing Editor will take significantly longer to post.

The IBS was founded in 1970 on the model of Bertolt Brecht's own unrealized plans for a "Diderot Society". A non-profit, educational organization with a world-wide membership, the Society promotes the performance and understanding of Brecht's texts and addresses issues of politics and culture in contemporary life. It also encourages and supports local, national, and regional groups with related goals. In Brecht's spirit of collaborative work, the IBS hopes that this website will function as a clearinghouse, facilitating international contacts and exchange. It is committed to maintaining Brecht as a living force in the theater as well as in the political and cultural arenas, so that he remains - as he wished - an "unsettling presence". If you are interested in becoming a member of the IBS, click here. Members in the Euro zone can pay their dues by direct bank transfer to: Deutsche Bank Düsseldorf, Konto Nr. 76-74146, BLZ 300 700 24, IBAN DE53 3007 0024 0767 4146 00, BIC / Swift Code: DEUTDEDBDUE. Members who have questions about their membership status or who need to change any information should contact the secretary/treasurer, Paula Hanssen.

For more information about the contents of this site, click About this Site. Please use the menu bar to the left to navigate the IBS website.

Space for this page has been provided courtesy of the University of Wisconsin-Madison German Department. If you would like to view this page without frames, please click here.

 

 

Latest News

Red ArrowHanne Hiob, Brecht's eldest child (born in 1923, when Brecht was together with the opera singer Marianne Zoff), died on June 24, 2009, in Munich.
Hanne Hiob, Brechts älteste Kind (geboren 1923, als Brecht mit der Opernsängerin Marianne Zoff zusammenlebte), ist am 24. Juni 2009 in München gestorben.

Red ArrowStefan Brecht, son of Bertolt Brecht and Helena Weigel, died at the age of 84 in New York City on Monday, April 13, 2009. For obituaries in German from Die Welt and Tagesspiegel.
For two 2007 articles on Stefan Brecht in English, click here.

Red ArrowWe regret to announce that Reinhold Grimm, a founding member of the IBS, co-editor of the original Brecht Yearbook under the title Brecht heute - Brecht Today, and an internationally recognized Brecht scholar, died in March 2009. Obituary / Nachruf

Red ArrowAugusto Boal, known as "Latin America's Brecht," passed away at the age of 78 on May 2, 2009. See the obituary in the Guardian (London).

Red ArrowKuhle Wampe, or Who Owns the World? is now available in a digitally restored and newly subtitled DVD. Special features: Slatan Dudow’s 1929 short on How the Worker Lives, and a 1974 documentary on Dudow by Volker Koepp with footage of Brecht and Dudow together in Paris. For pricing and orders: www.umass.edu/defa or email to defaorder@german.umass.edu

Red ArrowJohn Walter's film Theater of War (2008, 95 min.), starring Meryl Streep and based on Tony Kushner's adaptation of Brecht's Mother Courage, is now available for educational rental. For information and rates, contact: www.cinemapurgatorio.com

Red ArrowThe digital Brecht Yearbook, vols. 1-28 (1971-2003) / Das Brecht-Jahrbuch digital, Bd. 1-28 (1971-2003): http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/German.BrechtYearbook

Red Arrow Brecht's Works in English: A Bibliography
Check this new website with over 2,600 entries if you are looking for Brecht's plays, poems, songs, stories, or essays in English translation: http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/BrechtGuide/

Red ArrowCheck the "electronic Communications" website, maintained by Communications editor Norm Roessler, for current play reviews, bibliography, and other treats! http://www.ecibs.org/new/index.php

Red Arrow Questions about English-language performance rights of Brecht's plays? Click here for more details. To view/download a .pdf file for information from A&C Black on ordering books click here.

Red ArrowBrecht Listserve for IBS members:
Click to join the IBS listserve at Yahoo! groups. This listserve is PRIVATE and is a service available only to IBS members! Non-members who wish to post will be denied access by the moderator. IBS members with questions or concerns about joining and/or using the listserve should direct their inquiries to the moderator here.

Red Arrow The IBS members re-elected the steering committee members in December 2007 to two-year terms:
President: Hans Thies Lehmann (Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main)
Vice-President: Erdmut Wizisla (Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv, Berlin)
Secretary-Treasurer: Paula Hanssen (Webster University, St. Louis)
Editor, Communications: Norman Roessler (Temple University, Philadelphia)

Managing Editor: Marc Silberman
Technical Supervisor: Kristopher Imbrigotta

Last Updated:

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Site created: January 15, 1997.