Weill and Brecht Festival
Perfomances, Seminars, Guest Scholars, Concerts,
Begins February 3
Two keynote speakers, theater director Liz Diamond,
Yale School of Drama and Dr. Kim Kowalke , Eastman School of Music and president
of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music launch the Kurt Weill and Bertolt
Brecht Festival- A 21st Century Celebration at
the School of Music’s Ultan Recital Hall, Wednesday,
February 3 at 7:30 pm in the West Bank Arts Quarter of the University of Minnesota. See complete listing of events for Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht Festival.
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is broadly acknowledged as the most influential
political theatre artist of the 20th century and his ideas about the role of
art in the analysis and transformation of society remain the bedrock of whole
schools of theatre, and genres of literary criticism. Kurt Weill (1900-1950) one of the
most versatile and influential theater composers of the twentieth century, re-invented
the musical theater form.
The Weill and Brecht Festival kicks off February 3 and continues through April 17 with rich variety of attractions. First engage in a lively introduction to these giants
of the twentieth century in “Brecht
and Weill Together and Apart” as director Liz Diamond, and Dr. Kim Kowalke share
insights about these artists, their close partnership, as well as their
achievement independent of one another. The Wednesday evening’s discussion will be moderated
by Ben
Krywosz of Nautilus Theatre with panelists David Walsh of the University Opera Theatre, and Marc
Silberman of University of Wisconsin’s German Studies. Enjoy musical selections from Threepenny Opera and Lady in the Dark performed by casts members of the upcoming University
Theatre Arts & Dance and University Opera Theatre productions, to be presented
at the Rarig Center (February 25- March 6) and the Ted Mann Concert Hall, (April
14-17) respectively.
“Brechtian
Legacies: Expanded Theater” will investigate theatre as a medium,
its epistemological force and potential to initiate social change on Thursday, February 4, at 4:00 pm at Northrop Auditorium’s Crosby Seminar
Room 240 hosted by the Institute for Advanced Studies. Matthias Rothe, German,
Scandinavian and Dutch department, will moderate the afternoon’s session featuring
presenters: Lisa Channer, Theatre Arts & Dance; Maria Hofmann, German,
Scandinavian and Dutch, from the University of Minnesota, and Marc Silberman of
University of
Wisconsin’s German Studies. Free and open ot the public.
A free concert titled “The Roaring Twenties: An Age of Change”on
Friday, February 5 at 7:30 pm at Ted Mann Concert Hall will
feature the Threepenny Opera Suite
and other musical selections by Kurt Weill. This concert includes works by
Gustav Holst, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Jerry Luckhardt conducts the
presentation. The event is free and open to the public.
The Threepenny Opera, composed by Kurt Weill with book and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, and translated Elizabeth Hauptmann, takes the stage directed by Kym Longhi at the Rarig Center, Stoll Thrust Theatre , February 25- March 6. Scroll to What's on at Rarig for details below.
The Weill Brecht Festival celebration continues next next month with:
Brecht & Weill Smorgasboard, March 21 at 7:30pm at the Southern Theater, Minneapolis. Tickets: $10 public, $6 students; free to ARTShare members at the Southern Theater www.southerntheater.org
generously supports the Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht Festival, presented by
the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance; University of Minnesota School of Music, School of Opera Music Theatre; the Department of German, Scandinavian & Dutch Studies; the Institute for Advanced Study's Brecht Research Collective, and the Southern Theater.
the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance; University of Minnesota School of Music, School of Opera Music Theatre; the Department of German, Scandinavian & Dutch Studies; the Institute for Advanced Study's Brecht Research Collective, and the Southern Theater.
What’s
on @ Rarig...
The Threepenny
Opera, composed by Kurt Weill with
book and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, and translated Elizabeth Hauptmann, takes the stage
at the Rarig Center, February 25- March
6. “With Brecht's cuttingly satirical
look at the meaning of morality in a society populated by gangsters, beggars,
prostitutes and corrupt cops, and Weill's edgy, opera-meets-cabaret score . . .
this show was all but irresistible,” praised the Chicago Sun-Times. This startling piece of musical theatre
featuring some of the 20th century’s most enduring songs – including
“Mack the Knife” and “Pirate Jenny” – The Threepenny Opera is a wickedly funny story of betrayal
upon betrayal, climaxing in one of the most unusual and hilarious finales in
modern theatre. Under the direction of Theatre Arts’ faculty member Kym Longhi
and conducted by School of Music’s Jerry Luckhardt, The Threepenny Opera information
and tickets are available by calling 612-624-2345 or visiting www.theatre.umn.edu
Why Threepenny Opera?
Kym Longhi, stage director
/B.A. performance program faculty member, took a moment between rehearsal to
answer that question, and share her thoughts...
Why Threepenny Opera
now? How is this play with music
relevant to us today?
Threepenny Opera is a
critique of a society in which everything is a transition-so that nothing has
value unless it can be sold to the highest bidder. Love is for sale. Justice is
for sale, pity is for sale. For me, the
big question that comes out of this work is “What are you worth?” And who assigned that value? This question
haunts me as I witness the events in my world --The Black Lives Matter movement
, terrorist attacks, the Syrian refugee crisis, campaign finance, the political
rhetoric bullies, police brutality , gun violence, the health care debate and
mounting student debt, minimum wage protests- and whose stories get told and
whose don’t.
How is this idea reflected
in the production?
We’re setting Threepenny Opera
at a time in the not-too-distant future, and referencing current events as
recent history. Even though it is set in
the future, the world is nostalgic, referencing the sentimentality and idealism
of the 1950s that stimulated our economy and masked the threat of nuclear
destruction. It’s a media –saturated world where every desire is commodified,
and everyone consumes and consumes to assuage their deepest fears. This production will have a densely-layered
multimedia element designed by Martin Gwinup with students from his video
class. Throughout the show commercials
and video images from the past and present will provide a stream of editorial
commentary on the dramatic action.
The world of Threepenny
Opera - as revealed by set designer Sarah Bahr and costumer Mary Woll - is decaying
and on the verge of collapse, but no one is aware of it. The society is addicted to entertainment, because
entertainment distracts everyone from what is really going on.
And
you are hoping to achieve…
In the end, we’re
approaching Threepenny Opera as an entertaining critique of an entertainment –driven
marketplace. Our goal will be to
entertain the audience and, at the same time, cause them to question their
enjoyment. But don’t worry, it’s got a “happy”
ending.
So
Brecht teams up with Kurt Weill back in the 1920s,right?
Yes and they set out to
create a new kind of theatre. Though
their Threepenny Opera barely managed to open after a tumultuous rehearsal
process, the play with music became an instant success. This bothered Brecht who felt that the play
should have created more dissonance of the audience, provoking more
change. In essence he held a mirror up
to the bourgeois class saying “how do you like what you see?” He thought they would hate it instead they
loved it and wanted more.
Why?
What’s the appeal?
The world of Threepenny
Opera is ruled by charming criminals and exploitation is the norm. The characters don’t try to live ethically within
the system; they are living off the system.
The pursuit of profit replaces morality and the pursuit of pleasure is
the standard of living.
It is a culture of fear
anesthetized by entertainment: The jazzy ballad of Mack the Knife keeps our
toes tapping to Mack’s deeds of arson, murder and rape.
The audience should be caught
in the dialectic tension between enjoying the entertainment and being horrified
at the lack of morality, or really the invented morality that all the characters
display.
This production of Threepenny Opera will definitely be horrifyingly
entertaining, joyously wicked, and best of all, everyone lives “happily ever
after”—at least while they are on stage.
Costume renderings created by designer Mary C. Woll
What’s on @ Barker Center for Dance...
Mark your calendar now for
March 4 and 5 for the Spring Dance
Concert, in Barker’s Studio 100. Under the direction of TAD faculty member and artistic director of Shaprio & Smith Dance Joanie Smith, this program
will feature choreography by Leila Awadallah, Ayana Dubose, Luke Olson-Elm,
Joanie Smith, and Erin Thompson.
NOTE: Performance start times are 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm both March 4 and 5.
NOTE: Performance start times are 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm both March 4 and 5.
Spring
Dance Concert tickets are $6 for students and $11 for
everyone else.
Call 612 -624 2345 University Tickets and Events.
B.A.
Theatre Program expands its New Voices projects with additional
staged readings this month. You’re invited to join the audience.
February
12, 7:30
PM @ BARKER CENTER FOR DANCE, STUDIO 100
New Voices class project– staged
reading of RONIN
Based on a Zen story about
the shift from vengeance to forgiveness, this new adaptive work, shaped by playwright
Rick Shiomi, founder of Mu Performing Arts, is presented as a class project. Limited
free seating.
February
19,
7:30 PM @ BARKER CENTER FOR DANCE, STUDIO 100
New Voices class project – staged
reading of GOOD KIDS by Naomi Iizuka
Set at a Midwestern high school, in a world of Facebook and Twitter, smartphones and YouTube, this play explores a casual sexual encounter gone wrong and its very public aftermath. Led by MA/PhD student Jacob Rorem Public Reading. Limited free seating.
February
26,
7:30 pm @ BARKER CENTER FOR DANCE, STUDIO 100
THE INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN DON QUIXOTE of LA MANCHA
Led by Jason Ballwebber,
Four Humors Theatre
Enter a world ruled by delusions and far-flung
imagination, where a windmill transforms into a giant and a filthy innkeeper is
a king. The story of a man who can no longer leave that beautifully imagined world,
even after the curtain has come crashing down. Public reading-- limited free seating
University
of Minnesota /Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program offers two
February showings. Because seating is
limited, reserve your free seat in advance to the performance of your
choice at z.umn.edu/umtad
February
18, 19, 20, 7:30 pm & 21, 2:00 pm NOLTE XPERIMENTALTHEATRE
AMERICAN SOVIET by
Michael Punter
Directed
by Hayley Finn
BFA New Plays Senior Company
Free Tickets : reserve @
Z.umn.edu/umtad
February
25, 26 & 28, LIU STAGE/ KILBURN THEATRE
HIPPOLYTOS by
Euripides Translated by Anne Carson
Directed by Dario Tangleson
U of MN / Guthrie Theater
BFA Junior Company
Free Tickets : reserve @
Z.umn.edu/umtad
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
JuCoby
Johson (BFA ‘15) performs in Dear World, the Jerome
Lawrence and Robert E. Lee play with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Produced
by Ten Thousand Things, the show plays through February 7. Learn more>
Ryan
Colbert (BFA ’13), Hope
Cervantes (BFA '06) and faculty member Barbra
Berlovitz play in Dickens’ Great Expectations
through February 7.
Christian
Bardin, Michael Hanna, Jason Rojas, Ryan
Colbert and Jamila Anderson
perform in Romeo and Juliet. BA alum
Katie Willer is assistant director
for the show which plays Feb 12 and 13 at Park Square Theatre.
FACULTY Update
Torry Bend has created and directed
If My Feet Have Lost the Ground
which opens February 18
and plays through Feb 28 at Open Eye Figure Theater. “I’ve been been working on the show for the last three
years and it is thrilling to see it premier in Minneapolis,” says Ms. Bend. The show explores the experiences of Grace, a woman who spends too much of her
life suspended in flight. She finds a
letter containing a living, beating heart in the airplane pocket in front of
her. All she has to go on is a return address and a desire to keep this fragile
thing alive.”
Joel Sass directed and
adapted Great Expectations for Park Square Theatre. An associate faculty member fall semester, Sass
and has staged a number of TAD productions including last spring’ s Blue
Stockings with the University of
Minnesota / Guthrie Theater Actor Training program, graduating class of 2015 at
the Guthrie’s Dowling Theater.
Congratulations to B.A. program head Lisa Channer and Kym
Longhi, in partnership with School of Music's David Walsh, Opera Music Theatre and Matthais Rothe, German, Scandinavian,
Dutch Studies for planning and organizing over six months the first
ever collaboration between these units to create the Kurt Weill
and Bertold Brecht Festival- a 21st Century Celebration, February 3-
April 17.
