Bertolt Brecht

Jo Mielziner was the great Broadway Scenic designer who designed sets for hundreds of important plays and musicals and whose remarkable career spanned from 1927 to 1989. His design has earned him an array of awards. With his work, he has permanently affected the art of stage design and influenced many other designers. Jo Mielziner was a prominent designer who revolutionized the art of technical theatre. Jo Mielziner spent his childhood in France but moved to the States in 1909. Mielziner father…

Human Animalistic Instincts and Aggression “Animals do not do what they have done. Animals kill to eat, to defend themselves, or their own, and to protect their territory. Not for the joy of it. Not for the lust of it.” In this quote by Jim Butcher, animals are depicted as creatures who live to guard their possessions because they have to. Human beings adhere similar qualities to animalistic behaviors. Animals must be hostile or hold violent behaviors or attitudes toward another ready to…

This theater review will examine the racial themes of “3/Fights” by James Scruggs at the 3LD Art & Technology Center in New York City. Scruggs presents an interesting example of American racism by breaking the barriers of the “fourth wall” by including the audience members in the imaginary world of SupremacyLand. Before entering the venue, I was asked my racial designation (being either black or white), which immediately included me in the production. More so, after entering, I was guided by a…

German philosopher who is associated with the Frankfurt School and his areas of interests were literary theory, language, aesthetics, and technology. Benjamin was influences by and is associated with the work of Karl Marx, Theodor Adorno, and Bertolt Brecht. Moreover, one of Benjamin’s most influential writing is titled, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1936). The primary argument made by Benjamin in The Work of Art essay is the decay of an “aura” (authenticity) of art…

Containing earthquakes, massacres, hippies, politicians, ABBA, artists and a gay bar, ‘Bastard Territory’ by Stephan Carleton, covered a lot of topics, but simply put, it was a story about a boy and his parents. Presented by the Queensland Theatre Company and separated into three acts; each covering a different year, 1967, 1975 then 2001, ‘Bastard Territory’ covered the life of married couple Lois and Neville and later on their son Russell, while narrated by an adult Russell acting as a…

The Book Mother courage is a book written by Bertolt Brecht, the book was written in Germany. This German play writer’s ideas had changed the face of theatre perpetually. The author had begun writing the play in Denmark in 1938, scrutinizing the reason why people are ready to give up their live although knowing they are going to die. Anna Fierling is the protagonist in the play; she is familiarly called as mother courage. She lives off by driving a cart from camp to camp, flogging boots, rum,…

Book burning refers to the ritual destruction of books or other written materials by fire. Often carried out in public areas, book burning represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or political opposition to the materials being destroyed. During the nineteenth century in Germany, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Regime strategically implemented this method of oppression to demoralize any potential protests and to spark fierce nationalism into the hearts of the…

rebellious teenager holding a teacher hostage in Barrie Keeffe’s play titled Gotcha. Serkis changed his major subject to acting and constructed his Independent Studies Degree around acting and set design. He studied Konstantin Stanislavski and Bertolt Brecht including minor modules in art and visual…

Aristotle was a 4th century Greek philosopher known for his intellectual works on matters such as philosophy, ethics, history, and most famously Poetics. In Poetics, Aristotle discusses topics such as the elements of tragedy, the act of imitation, and catharsis, or purgation and cleansing of oneself through tragedy. Although only bits and pieces of his works have survived, his ideas and analysis on tragedy still ring true today and Poetics remains one of the most influential texts when it comes…

Oh, Mom! – A Brechtian Analysis of Well by Lisa Kron Most of us can relate to the adolescent struggle against a matriarchal force – almost mystical, but for sure one that seemed to be all powerful and overwhelming as well as nurturing. For many of us, that struggle to assert our own independent identities extends well beyond our years of teenage development and stays with us well into our later adult lives. This can stem from resentment, or an anxious desire to right any believed wrongs and thus…