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Christine Korte
Theater in Germany serves as a hotly debated public venue for working through major social and political issues and critiquing the status quo. This tradition begins in the late 18th century with the radical dramatists of the Sturm und Drang period and continues up to the present. This class centers on 20th-century German theater and on the theories, movements, and dramas that shaped it against the backdrop of a tumultuous century. After studying the foundational contributions of Schiller and Wagner, we examine the modernist theater of Max Reinhardt and the left-wing theater of the Weimar Republic, especially Piscator's political theater and Brecht's epic theater. In subsequent weeks, we look at theater during the Third Reich, postwar theater trends in East and West Germany, and developments in reunified Germany starting in the 1990s. Finally, we explore current debates surrounding how contemporary Berlin theaters are addressing racialization and structural inequality. Our weekly meetings center on history, and theory, and usually include a dramatic text.