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On Tuesday, January 19, Footlights celebrates the centennial of one of history's most influential dramatists, whom director Peter Brook calls "the key figure of our time": Bertolt Brecht, author of "Mother Courage," "The Threepenny Opera," & our January play, "Galileo" (1947), a tragicomedy about the persecution of the famous physicist. A "pioneering" work (LA Times), revealing "the very core of truth" (The New Republic), "Galileo" examines the intellectual outsider's relationship to religious and secular authority. Brecht biographer John Fuegi considers it "perhaps the most superbly crafted work with which Brecht was ever associated."
Professor John Fuegi will lead our discussion. His books include "The Essential Brecht" (1972) & the award-winning "Brecht & Co.: Sex, Politics, and the Making of the Modern Drama" (1994). Our meeting will also feature "Galileo" co-directors Chris Henley & Jim Stone, whose production (under the title "Life of Galileo") opens February 4 at the Washington Shakespeare Co.
We will meet at Delray Vietnamese Garden, 4918 Del Ray Ave., a few blocks N of the Bethesda metro. Take both up escalators, turn left onto Old Georgetown Rd., walk up to Del Ray Ave. & turn right. Call 301-217-7433 for bus information, or look for inexpensive garages & parking lots on Cordell Ave., Del Ray Ave., & Old Georgetown Rd. Dinner begins at 6:30 & our discussion at 7:30.
Attendance is limited; we may have a waiting list. Make reservations by e-mailing [email protected] or by calling 202-638-0444. Scope out "Galileo" (Laughton ed.) or "Life of Galileo" (Manheim/Willett eds.) in NW DC at Backstage Books, 2101 P St., Super Crown, 11 Dupont Circle, & for special Footlights discounts at Olsson's, 1307 19th St. & Politics & Prose, 5015 CT Ave.
On Sunday, February 21, at 2 p.m., Footlights will attend "Life of Galileo" at the Washington Shakespeare Co., 601 S. Clark St. in Arlington (703-418-4808), a short walk from Pentagon City & Crystal City metro stations. Tickets are $11. We must receive payment by February 7, also the refund deadline.
All $14 tickets are gone but we may have a few $21 tickets left for the Saturday, January 23, 2 p.m. performance of "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" at the Studio Theatre, 1333 P St., NW. We must receive payment for these tickets by January 9. Call or e-mail Robin before you send in your check (240-669-6300 & [email protected]).
For either performance send checks, payable to Footlights, to Robin Larkin, 5403 Nibud Ct., Rockville, MD 20852. Indicate if you need a ride or want to join us afterwards for dinner. Ticket prices include a $1 service charge & a post-performance cast discussion. Robin will distribute tickets at the theater just before curtain.
On Wednesday, February 24, Footlights continues its "Outsiders and Outlaws" series with "Andorra" (1961), by Swiss playwright Max Frisch. A "smashing assault on chauvinism," with "the quality of a legend" (New York Post), "Andorra" tells of a young man persecuted because of a prejudiced community's mistake about his ethnic origin. Our meeting will feature Frisch scholar Professor Frederick Lubich of Old Dominion University.
The Smithsonian exhibit "Red, Hot & Blue: A Salute to American Musicals" showcased American musical theater from its roots in 19th-century vaudeville to its redefined cultural role at the turn of the millennium. The exhibit closed on July 6, 1997. Starting January 5, for six weeks only, you can see the traveling exhibition--scaled down but still resonant--at the Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.
The Playwrights Forum teaches playwriting and holds staged readings of plays by Forum members. Several Footlights members belong to the Forum. Classes meet biweekly in groups of 8-10. Tuition is $90. For further information call 301-816-0569, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.erols.com/pforum/welcome.htm.
Change your bookmarks! Footlights proudly announces our new website, located at our new address: www.footlightsdc.org. Starting now, people who want to get regular Footlights updates on-line should send any message--even blank--to [email protected] To post to the list send your message to [email protected] Thanks to Betty Plummer and Jim Kay for the upgrades!
Tuesday, January 19: "Galileo," Delray Vietnamese Garden Saturday, January 23: "The Last Night of Ballyhoo," Studio Theatre Sunday, February 21: "Life of Galileo," Washington Shakespeare Company Wednesday, February 24: "Andorra," Luna Books Thursday, March 18: "Accidental Death of an Anarchist," Luna Books Sunday, March 28: "Accidental Death of an Anarchist," SCENA Theatre Monday, April 19: "How I Learned to Drive," Luna Books Thursday, May 13: "How I Learned to Drive," Arena Stage Tuesday, May 18: "Translations," Delray Vietnamese Garden
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