A Note from Susan —
In 2007, Eastenders Repertory Company produced Bertolt Brecht’s Fear and Misery of the Third Reich. Charles E. Polly, the company’s Founder, and I co-directed 18 of the scenes in Brecht’s play. I recall our Board of Directors warned us that no one would be interested in seeing a play with a title like that. The production turned out to be one of our most popular; we had crowds at both A Traveling Jewish Theatre (now Z Below) and at the Jewish Community Center in Berkeley. And we got some nice coverage from the San Francisco Chronicle. The play and its impact on audiences made a lasting impression on me.
The Politics of Fear
Pictured: Benjamin Boucvalt and Craig Dickerson in Eastenders Repertory Company’s Fear and Misery of the Third Reich
Photo by Suzan A Kendall
Fast forward about 10 years. I was working at Town Hall Theatre and enjoying periodic coffee visits with my playwright comrade of many years, Scott Munson*. I mentioned to him an idea about updating “Fear and Misery” to present day America. We tossed the idea back and forth, talked about what the model would be. How we envisioned a creation of pieces by many voices, expanding outward. Pieces would exist independently and could be performed anywhere, and could also be performed as a living globe.
Blink again and we are in 2020. A pandemic and a tumultuous election year and the urgency to actually produce this piece (not to mention write it) kicked up more than a few notches. And so … The Brecht Project begins. We do not know where it will take us!
How did we arrive at this moment in America? How and when did Fear take the reins? And what are we doing, or not doing, to stop and change?
- Susan
*Our back story:
Eastenders produced, and I directed, Scott Munson’s WWJD: A Modern Medieval Morality Motor Oil, and short plays of his in festivals called Pinteresque and Fo/Faux. While at the Douglas Morrisson Theatre, I commissioned Scott to write, and DMT subsequently produced, an updated An Ideal Husband (which again I had the privilege of directing) and Charley’s Aunt ‘66 (directed by Craig Souza). We’ve collaborated on workshops together, about directing new plays and working with playwrights, and Scott has shared his first-hand knowledge of Horton Foote with my cast when I directed Dividing the Estate. He’s even appeared as Oscar Wilde at a Town Hall Theatre literary evening. We know we’re destined to create stuff together.
Below are a few photos taken by Jennifer Daly of Eastenders Repertory Company’s production of Fear and Misery of the Third Reich from May of 2007.
