Come and see how Bertolt Brecht worked as a director as well as his work with legendary directors such as G.W. Pabst. Films are in German with English subtitles and are a courtesy of the Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes Toronto.

May 3, 2002 at 8:00 PM in The Club: Opening Featuring 
Mother Courage and Her Children by Peter Palitzsch and Manfred Wedwerth (1961) 149 mins.

May 5, 2002 at 8:00 PM in The Club:
The Mysteries of a Hairdresser’s shop by Brecht and Erich Engel (1923) (Silent) 24 mins.
A Man’s A Man by Brecht and starring Peter Lorre (1931) 15 mins.
Kuhle Wamp or Who Owns The World? by Slatan Dudov (1932) 75 mins.

May 10, 2002 at 8:00 PM in The Club:
The Threepenny Opera by G.W. Pabst (1931) 131 mins.
Private silent Films (1928/29-from the estate of Bertolt Brecht). A few minutes.

May 17, 2002 at 8:00 PM in The Club:
The Mother by Manfred Wekwerth (1958) 147 mins.

May 19, 2002 at 8:00 PM in The Club:
Galileo by Ruth Berlau with Charles Laughton (1947) (Silent) 30 mins.
The Brecht Films of Hans Syberberg (1953/93) 90 mins.

Poetry Reading in The Club
May 14, 2002 at 8:00 PM in The Club: Poetry Reading with Metis poet Marilyn Dumont.

An Aboriginal Journey with Brecht Workshop Presentation
Saturday, May 25, 2002 at 8:00 PM in the Margaret Greenham Theatre: a presentation of Scenes and Songs from.... An Aboriginal Journey with Brecht…a theatre workshop. Aboriginal directors, actors and other theatre professionals come together with Uta Birnbaum, an expert in Bertolt Brecht's theatrical approach and methodology in an intensive exploratory master class, framed within an Aboriginal context.

In addition to class exercises, the actors will prepare scenes and monologues selected from four of Brecht’s plays. The plays include St. Joan of the Stockyards, The Good Person of Szechwan, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Mother Courage. The scenes selected are excerpts that relate to the theme of "Justice". The choice of a theme corresponds to the practice of the Berliner Ensemble, where the repertory is always considered from the perspective of the world situation. Each actor will also choose a Brecht song set to music by Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler or Paul Dessau to work on during the workshop.

A collage of the scenes, monologues and songs will be presented in an open studio setting before an invited audience at the end of the session.

"I strongly believe that every time you do a production you have to do something different. The play should express relevant problems"… Uta Birnbaum

The Program's Director Uta Birnbaum, is a world-renowned director and expert on Bertolt Brecht. As a Brecht scholar and practitioner, Birnbaum has offered her expertise to many professional theatre practitioners throughout Europe and North America. Birnbaum started her apprenticeship at the Berliner Ensemble in 1954, under the direction of Brecht himself, and worked there for twelve years, first as a dramaturge and then as a director.

Ms. Birnbaum will be assisted by Stefan Schuetz, and will be joined by two guest directors-Alanis King (Odawa), former Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts Inc. in Toronto, and Debajehmujig Theatre Group in Wikwemikong and Robin Melting Tallow, (Cree/Metis), Artistic Director and Founder of Crazy Horse Theatre in Calgary. Music Director David Deleary (Ojibway), Movement Coach Rosalie Jones (Blackfeet/Chippewa), Design Instructor David Lovett from the University of Alberta, and accompanist Vicki Oveson, will round out the creative team. The actors, participating in the workshop include: Muriel Miguel (Kuna/Rappahannock), Michelle Thrush (Cree), Lorne Cardinal (Cree), Sam Bob (Salish), Sid Bobb (Metis/Salish), Jonathan Fisher (Ojibway), Shaneen Ann Fox (Blackfoot), Cheri Maracle (Six Nations), Jeremy Proulx (Ojibway), and Amy White (Ojibway).

For program information on An Aboriginal Journey with Brecht, visit http://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/ab_journey_brecht/

For further information on the Brecht Film Festival, visit http://www.banffcentre.ca/cfa/events/2002/series/brecht.htm

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