| In
today's atmosphere, Mephisto could not be a braver or more relevant
production.
Imagine
an evening of theater where the actors and audience are living a
play whose conclusion, for them, is still being written...
That
is what we envision at a special artists night at Mephisto on December
9, 2001. The play, adapted by Ariane Mnouchkine from the Klaus Mann
novel, is set in a Germany in transition from the Weimar to the
Third Reich. It follows the members of the Peppermill, a progressive
theater company in Hamburg. This is the era of Brecht, Grosz and
Kollwitz - a period that has left an indelible legacy of radical
and pathbreaking art. In Mephisto, we watch as dramatic political
events marking the Nazi rise to power pose critical crossroads for
these artists.
There
is a moment in the play when the Nazi's have won the elections and
the artists are confronted by the fact that the major oppositional
parties are clearly not calling for the kind of esistance they know
is necessary. We see the multitude of ways that the characters confront
this new terrain and how the conflict transforms the artists based
on the choices that they make. There is the actor whose every conciliation,
rationalized in the name of art, turns him into an instrument of
the fascist program. And then there are those who cannot or will
not conciliate, whose stories stand in stark and moving contrast.
Join us. The Actors' Gang will host a special open discussion after
the performance.
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