(510) 568-4118

Eastenders Repertory Company kicks off the second half of Season 2006-07 with the Bay Area premiere of FEAR AND MISERY OF THE THIRD REICH by Bertolt Brecht (translated by John Willett),a masterful documentary portrait of everyday life under the Nazis. On May 10, 2007, FEAR AND MISERY OF THE THIRD REICH opens at Traveling Jewish Theatre, 470 Florida Street, San Francisco, and plays for four performances only, May 10 through May 13; the production jumps across to the East Bay for four more performances May 17, May 19 and two shows on May 20, 2007, at the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut Street, Berkeley. In advance of the May performances, during the month of April Eastenders presents, free to the public, five scenes from Fear and Misery of The Third Reich at select locations around the Bay Area. For information about dates, times and locations of the free public performances and/or about the production, please call 510.568.4118.

Brecht wrote of FEAR AND MISERY OF THE THIRD REICH (Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches): “[the play] shows too clearly what a fragile foundation fear and misery are ... how ineffectual terror is bound to be, in fact, how inevitably it must create resistance, even in sections of the population that originally welcomed it with cheers.” More than merely a historical recording of the past, this play shows us how fear and intimidation can impact a society – how thought and action can become paralyzed in a fascist state – and it urges us to resistance and action. Sixty-eight years later the play’s relevance to our own time is painfully obvious, and Brecht’s words resonate powerfully and prophetically. Beginning in 1933 with the first day of Hitler’s regime and concluding with the invasion of Vienna in 1938, Brecht’s drama paints a chilling portrait of everyday life under the Nazis. In 24+ scenes, the documentary play gives a cross-section of all German society, reveals the brutality, terror and resistance of every class of the population, in a series of intimate snapshots depicting the impact of the National Socialist dictatorship.

Five scenes from FEAR AND MISERY OF THE THIRD REICH will be performed in April in advance of the production of the complete script. The five scenes, The Chalk Cross, Judicial Process, Occupational Disease, The Jewish Wife and The Spy; these five scenes were originally titled Die Angst-Spiritual Upsurge of the German People Under Nazis, and they formed the nucleus from which Brecht built his full script. From 1935 to 1938 that script grew from five to 17 to 27 playlets (the number of scenes eventually totaled 30, with more in outline form). The play has undergone many permutations throughout the years, as scenes were added, performed individually and in groups, and arranged in different orders with different translators. John Willett’s masterfully brutal English translation of Fear and Misery (used in the Eastenders production), first published in 1983, includes 24 scenes.

Fear and Misery’s production career is equally checkered and confusing. The first official production, comprised of only eight scenes, was presented in a 1938 Paris production entitled 99%, an ironic reference to the fact that 99% of the German voters voted Nazi in the March 1936 elections. In 1940, the BBC broadcast a few scenes entitled Under the Crooked Cross. Most notably, the American wartime adaptation The Private Life of the Master Race (surviving now only in Eric Bentley’s translation) reordered the scenes into three parts, added a chorus, new introductory verses and an onstage German panzer. Of local note: This American version The Private Life of the Master Race in the translation by Bentley had its world premiere by the Little Theatre in Wheeler Auditorium at UC Berkeley on June 7 - June 9, 1945 - four performances in 3 days. Under the auspices of the Department of Dramatic Arts and its Little Theatre, Henry Schnitzler, son of the Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler, directed a cast in all 17 scenes of the Bentley translation. The play was done as part of the official program for delegates to the United Nations conference taking place in San Francisco. Schnitzler sent Brecht a telegram after the opening saying the "audience followed every scene with profound attention."

In structure, Fear and Misery of The Third Reich is a precursor to contemporary docudramas such as The People’s Temple, The Laramie Project and the various work of Anna Deavere Smith. In its depiction of an entire society at a particular time in history, the scope of the piece has never been equaled.

As community outreach and to promote awareness of this lesser known Brecht masterpiece, Eastenders is thrilled to bring the five scenes synopsized briefly below to nine venues around the Bay Area, from Palo Alto to Pinole. Following the presentations, the cast and ERC artistic staff will lead brief discussions of Brecht in theory and performance.

THE CHALK CROSS (Das Kreidekreuz) In a Berlin kitchen, an SA man visits with his girlfriend and the other household servants, then plays a insidious trick – and shows us how he smokes out those who dare to complain of their lives under the Führer.

JUDICIAL PROCESS (Rechtsfindung) A blackly humorous piece about a Judge’s impossible predicament: he must decide a case of robbery and battery by three SA men against a Jewish shopkeeper. Is there a “right” decision?

OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE (Die Berufskrankheit) At a training hospital, hypocrisy and collaboration are the order of the day; all illnesses can be explained away to cover up the crimes of the police state.

THE JEWISH WIFE (Die jüdische Frau) A heart-wrenching study of an upper middle-class woman who must flee to Amsterdam to protect the career and reputation of her husband.

THE SPY (Der Spitzel) On a rainy evening, a schoolteacher and his wife sit at home, in growing terror that their son, a member of the Hitler Youth, might betray them.

FEAR AND MISERY features an ensemble of company actors: Benjamin Boucvalt, Reg Clay, Craig Dickerson, Carolyn Doyle*, Dashiell Hillman, Suzan Kendall, Amanda Krampf, Melvin Payne, Alexander Senauke, Jeff Thompson, and Christine U’Ren. The play is directed by Susan E. Evans, Artistic Director, and Charles E. Polly, Founding Artistic Director, of Eastenders Repertory Company.
(*Member of Actors Equity Association, an Equity Approved Project)

The mission of Eastenders Repertory Company is to provide a collaborative, mentoring environment for theatre artists to produce both original and established works in repertory and to develop educational programs in theatre arts. ERC is dedicated to providing a stimulating environment for theatre artists and high-quality, affordable and accessible theatre for the Bay Area community. Past Eastenders productions include PINTERESQUE (Harold Pinter’s The Lover and original short pieces inspired by that one-act), our prior six annual one-act festivals: 100 YEARS OF SEX-ACTS, ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF POLITICAL THEATRE, EIGHT X TENN, 106 YEARS OF COMEDY, ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF EURO-ONE-ACTS and ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF ONE-ACTS, the spring 2005 world premieres of Charles E. Polly’s A Knight’s Escape and Scott Munson’s WWJD?, Three Hotels by Jon Robin Baitz, the local premieres of Wonder of the World by David Lindsay-Abaire and [sic] by Melissa James Gibson, and TENN in 2002! (Williams’ The Long Goodbye and new short works inspired by that one-act); the world premiere of Founding Artistic Director Charles E. Polly’s THE TWYLA TRILOGY (Twyla’s Boy, Twyla’s Story and June Bug Music); Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days; and the Bay Area premiere of Tennessee Williams’ Something Cloudy, Something Clear.

FOR CALENDAR EDITORS:

WHAT:

Eastenders Repertory Company presents FEAR AND MISERY OF THE THIRD REICH by Bertolt Brecht (tr. John Willett), a masterful documentary portrait of everyday life under the Nazis.

WHEN & WHERE:

SCENES from FEAR AND MISERY OF THE THIRD REICH

The Spy
Judicial Process
Bernal Heights Branch Library
500 Cortland Ave, San Francisco
April 14, Saturday, at 2:00 pm

Occupational Disease
Chalk Cross
Golden Gate Valley Library
1801 Green St., San Francisco
April 21, Saturday, at12:30 pm

Occupational Disease
Chalk Cross
Excelsior Branch Library
4400 Mission St., San Francisco
April 21, Saturday, 3:30 pm

Chalk Cross
Palo Alto High School
50 Embarcadero Rd, Palo Alto
Wed., April 25, at 10:30 am

The Jewish Wife
The Spy
Potrero Branch Library
1616 20th St., San Francisco
April 28, Sat., at 4:00 pm

The Jewish Wife
The Spy
Mills College
Special Collections Library
5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland
April 29, Sunday, at 3:30 pm

The Jewish Wife
Judicial Process
Jewish Community Center of the East Bay
1414 Walnut St., Berkeley
April 29 Sunday at 8:00 pm

Occupational Disease
Chalk Cross
Pinole Performing Arts Center
2406 San Pablo Ave, Pinole
May 5, Sat., at 3:00 pm

TICKETS FOR SCENES: FREE TO THE PUBLIC

FEAR AND MISERY OF THE THIRD REICH

TRAVELING JEWISH THEATRE
470 Florida Street, San Francisco
Runs: Thurs. May 10 thru Sunday May 13
Plays: Thurs-Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinee at 2:00 p.m.

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF THE EAST BAY
1414 Walnut Street, Berkeley
Runs: Thurs, May 17, Sat. May 19, Sunday May 20
Plays: Thurs, Sat. & Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinee (May 20) at 3:00 p.m.

Closes: Sunday, May 20

TICKETS:

$20 All Performances
KQED, TBA, student and senior discounts, group rates available.
For tickets and information, the public may call 510.568.4118

Benjamin Boucvalt and Amanda Krampf in Fear & Misery of the Third Reich. Photo by Suzan A Kendall.


Benjamin Boucvalt and Amanda Krampf in Fear & Misery of the Third Reich. Photo by Suzan A Kendall.


Benjamin Boucvalt and Craig Dickerson in Fear & Misery of the Third Reich. Photo by Suzan A Kendall.


Benjamin Boucvalt and Craig Dickerson in Fear & Misery of the Third Reich. Photo by Suzan A Kendall.


Christine U'Ren and Alexander Senauke in Fear & Misery of the Third Reich. Photo by Jennifer Daly.


Jeff Thompson and Melvin Payne in Fear & Misery of the Third Reich. Photo by Jennifer Daly.


Carolyn Doyle in Fear & Misery of the Third Reich. Photo by Jennifer Daly.


Carolyn Doyle and Craig Dickerson in Fear & Misery of the Third Reich. Photo by Jennifer Daly.