Janus Theatre Company salutes Brecht
ELGIN -- German playwright Bertolt Brecht fought against injustice through his plays, poems and music -- work that sometimes was tongue- in-cheek but remains relevant.
Sarafina Vecchio, of the Janus Theatre Company, began studying his work when she was 17. She has written The Greatest Story eBertolt: A Brecht Review, which opens tonight at the Elgin Art Showcase in downtown Elgin.
(Submitted/Janus Theatre)
• When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 6 p.m. Sundays through May 18.
• Where: Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., eighth floor of the Professional Building, Elgin.
• Tickets: $15 regular, $12 students/seniors
• Info: Call (847) 931-0637
• On the Net: www.janustheatre.org
Brecht was "very revolutionary. ... He believed that man should help man no matter what social level they are on," Vecchio said. "There are so many of his writings from the '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s that still make so much sense. My favorite Brecht quote is, 'No one will improve your lot if you yourself do not."
The playwright's best known works are The Good Person of Setzuan and Mother Courage, and he collaborated on The Three Penny Opera, where the song Mac the Knife premiered.
He resisted Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, an opposition that forced him to flee Germany. He lived in California until he became the target of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the Un-American Activities Committee during the "Red Scare," which accused high-profile Americans of being Communists.
Brecht died in Berlin in 1954.
Vecchio's screenplay is a collection of scenes from Brecht's works, but it is not just snippets of shows. Vecchio created a scene in post-war Germany inside a storefront cabaret where actors have gathered to play tribute to Brecht. The play goes from song to song, poem to poem, she said. She also used the actual transcripts from the hearings surrounding the Red Scare hearings.
Because the Brecht materials were not performance pieces, Vecchio creatively adapted the works to the stage. "I've never seen anything done like this in my life," said the veteran theater actress and director.
Vecchio, an Elgin native, grew up performing in community theater. She performed in Elgin Children's Theater's first production in 1988 as the lead actress in Snow White and the Seven Drawfs. She received a theater degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago and studied classical theater in Richmond College in London. Vecchio performed with Tony n' Tina's Wedding touring company for seven years and has appeared in numerous independent films and Chicago theater productions.
Janus Theatre officials asked Vecchio to write and direct a play for this season. She felt a Brecht production would be good, especially because it is an election year. Vecchio is inspired by politics, which Brecht wrote about.
So, what would the playwright think of America's primary elections?
"I think he would probably be disgusted by the amount of money and the amount of name-calling, finger-pointing and the politics of everything where everyone is ignoring the suffering of people, the hunger, the poverty, the violence and the war," Vecchio said.
An awareness of the world and the issues facing humanity needs to be created, and writings like Brecht's can achieve that, Vecchio said.
"With the atmosphere in our country at the moment, I think it is important for people to have something that makes them talk about what's going on," she said. "Whether they agree with what they saw or not, just to be inspired to do something for their world."