German Literature & Theater

Vorhang auf ! German Theater Group of San Diego invites to “That’s Life”

March 24, 2018 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

How about some German Cabaret? If you are living in or near San Diego you are in luck, because San Diego’s German Theater Group just announced its new show for April. Running only for two days you want to plan on getting your tickets early!

So ist das Leben! (That’s Life) promises an evening of laughter with humorous and thought-provoking skits, poems and musical numbers from classic German artists including Heinz Erhardt, Kurt Tucholsky, Erich Kaestner, Marlene Dietrich, Comedian Harmonists, to Otto, Loriot, Ruediger Hoffmann, Anke Engelke, Annett Louisan, Roger Cicero and more.

The show will be performed in German but an English summary of each skit will be provided in the playbill.

Dates: April 21, 2018, at 7:30 pm and April 22, 2018, at 2:00 pm
Price: General Admission $12, Students (with ID) $9
Place: German American Societies, 1017 S. Molison Ave., El Cajon, CA 92020

Get Your TICKETS Here !

The German Theater Group San Diego was founded in October 2016 by Astrid Ronke and is part of the German Amercian Societies in San Diego. The group consists of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers, whose mission is to bring quality German Theater to San Diego and neighboring areas.

On Saturday, March 18, 2017, “Ein Abend mit Loriot” premiered to a packed house at the OB Playhouse in San Diego.

Find out more about the German Theater Group San Diego here.

Images ©German Theater Group San Diego

‘The Red Dress’ – Politics and Love in Germany Between the Wars

November 2, 2017 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

‘The Red Dress’ (Tania Wisbar)- Odyssey Theatre

‘The Red Dress’ – A World Premiere at The Odyssey Theatre In Los Angeles

Last weekend we were treated to a compelling and thought-provoking play at the Odyssey Theatre in LA. ‘The Red Dress’ by Tania Wisbar left us thinking and drawing parallels to the times we live in today.

‘The Red Dress’, a romantic drama set in Berlin, explores the intersection of politics and art during the years between the Treaty of Versailles and the rise of Fascism (1924-1936).

Alexandra Schiele (Laura Liguori) is a famous film actress from a prominent Jewish family who falls in love with a down-on-his-luck World War I vet, Franz Weitrek (J.B. Waterman). Franz is able to parlay his wife’s connections into work as a film director. But when his career takes off making Nazi propaganda films, his wife suddenly becomes a liability. Also in the cast are Rebecca Larsen, Shanti Reinhardt and Dylan Wittrock. Kiff Scholl directs.

The play intelligently taps into personal emotions and tensions caused by the political and social changes during the turbulent years before the rise of Nazism. It touches on the Eugenics Movement as well as some of the horrific actions the National Socialist Party of Hitler was known for. The excellent cast helps with the intensity of some scenes to create suspense throughout the whole play. The scenes spanning quite a few years in history are pulled together by sequences of historical movies and music from the particular eras. [Read more…] about ‘The Red Dress’ – Politics and Love in Germany Between the Wars

FRANTZ – Movie Release in Los Angeles – March 24

March 15, 2017 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

FRANTZ, the latest film from renowned filmmaker Francois Ozon, will be released in Los Angeles on March 24 at the Landmark’s Nuart Theatre.

CaliforniaGermans has 2 pairs of movie tickets to give away for March 24 in Los Angeles! If you would like to receive a FREE pair of movie tickets, send us an email here with your full name and mention the movie “FRANTZ”. We will choose and contact 2 lucky movie goers among the first 10 emails we receive.

-FRANTZ –

A haunting tale of love and reconciliation through the eyes of the First World War’s lost generation.

Set in Germany and France in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, (1914-1918), Frantz recalls the mourning period that follows great national tragedies as seen through the eyes of the war’s “lost generation”: Anna (21 year-old Paula Beer in a breakthrough performance), a bereft young German woman whose fiancé, Frantz, was killed during trench warfare, and Adrien (Pierre Niney, Yves Saint Laurent), a French veteran of the war who shows up mysteriously in her town, placing flowers on Frantz’s grave. Adrien’s presence is met with resistance by the small community still reeling from Germany’s defeat, yet Anna gradually gets closer to the handsome and melancholy young man, as she learns of his deep friendship with Frantz, conjured up in evocative flashbacks.

What follows is a surprising exploration of how Ozon’s characters’ wrestle with their conflicting feelings – survivor’s guilt, anger at one’s losses, the overriding desire for happiness despite everything that has come before, and the longing for sexual, romantic and familial attachments.

Inspired by Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 film Broken Lullaby, FRANTZ is an elegant and dramatic love story—both between two individuals and between two nations at the core of the imperiled European Union experiment.

Early Praise for FRANTZ

“Exquisite and haunting…one of the talented director Francois Ozon’s very best films.” -Paper

“A richly imagined and superbly assembled period piece.” -The Hollywood Reporter

“Astonishingly beautiful and inquisitive. It’s impossible to deny the sheer narrative sophistication.” -Indiewire

Run time: 113 minutes, Rating: PG-13, Language: French and German with English subtitles

Credits: MusicBoxFilms

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Get Prepared for Oscar Night – Exploring the Movies in L.A. Exhibitions

February 6, 2015 by Cornelia 1 Comment

Its Oscar Time! – The 87th Academy Awards Ceremony is February 22, 2015

The 87th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will honor the best films of 2014 and will take place February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

If you’d like to catch up on some movie history in particularly German-American related, then go see some of these great exhibitions out here in Los Angeles that for sure will get you in the right mood for the grand night. And the winner is… !

Light & Noir: Exiles and Émigrés in Hollywood, 1933–1950

The Skirball Cultural Center co-presents with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences the exhibition Light & Noir: Exiles and Émigrés in Hollywood, 1933–1950, which pays homage to the lives and work of émigré actors, directors, writers, and composers who fled Nazi Europe and made a lasting impact on American cinema and culture. Explore how the experiences of German-speaking exiles and émigrés such as of directors Billy Wilder and Fritz Lang, actress Marlene Dietrich and many more, influenced the classic films of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

“The exhibition demonstrates how the experiences of exodus and exile affected the lives and work of émigrés in many different ways. It is a story of immigration, acculturation, and innovation that intersects with the flourishing of Hollywood as an American cultural phenomenon.” (Skirball Center)

The exhibition will close March 1st with the screening of the PBS documentary, Cinema’s Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood at 11am.

Parallel to the above mentioned exhibition a site specific installation by Austrian artist Isa Rosenberger can be visited. Café Vienne honors the recently rediscovered work of Austrian American Jewish writer Gina Kaus (1894–1985) and the cultural role of the Viennese coffee house.

LACMA presents Haunted Screens: German Cinema in the 1920s

This exhibition explores masterworks of German Expressionist cinema and features over 150 drawings, as well as manuscripts, posters, and set models, the majority gathered by Lotte Eisner, German emigrée film historian and author of the pioneering 1952 text The Haunted Screen.

Haunted Screens closes on April 26 and is included in the general admissions ticket.

Further reads: Expressionist Films ad the German Trauma

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Source: Skirball Cultural Center, LACMA

Photo: Wikipedia

German-American Comedy shows in Los Angeles

December 12, 2014 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

Trying to find your own identity is not always easy. German-American comedian Lucie Pohl takes up this challenge with her hilarious show Hi Hitler showing in Los Angeles this weekend, at the Complex Theater on December 13-14, 2014.

Lucie grew up in Germany until the age of eight before moving with her family to New York. Feeling always different and trying to make sense of her heritage in a not always welcoming world, it was hard to fit in. Many obstacles paved this never-ending path.

“Told in English and German this 60 minute storytelling blitzcomedy follows a German-Jew, who grows up in a wild family of artists, is fascinated by der Führer from age four and uprooted from Hamburg to NYC at eight. As Bertolt Brecht’s real-life niece, Lucie yearns for normalcy, but being different seems to run in her bloodline and escaping her inherited high-drama-destiny might just be impossible. A pinch of Hitler, a cup of hip hop and a dash of Hasselhoff.”

Her much acclaimed show had a sold out Edinburgh Fringe debut, a debut on London’s West End, and a sold-out OFF-Broadway preview run at 59E59 Theaters. German-American actress and comedian Lucie Pohl now brings her 5 star solo show Hi, Hitler to Los Angeles for 2 nights only.

Lucie Pohl: Hi, Hitler – At The Complex Theater Sat. & Sun. December 13-14 at 8pm.

Tickets are available here. CaliforniaGermans can buy tickets with the discount code GOETHE for $12 .

Source: The Guardian, Lucie Pohl,

Image: Lucie Pohl

The “Kiepenkasper” Uwe Spillmann is in Town! – January 11th in San Diego

December 30, 2013 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

KiepenkaspEr Hand Puppet Theater at the German Pacific School in San Diego

Attention all children! Have you missed the Kiepenkasper show in January 2013? Well, here is your chance to see Uwe Spillmann in action again! He will be visiting the German Pacific School in San Diego to give one of his performances all for you. The performance is of course open to everyone, so you can bring your parents as well.

Uwe Spillmann, a hand puppet player known around the world, will be visiting many German schools on his upcoming US tour. One stop will be here in San Diego.

Mr. Spillmann is writing his own scripts for his ‘Kiepenkasper’. Based on traditional puppet shows (‘Kasperltheater’) his performances bring a breeze of fresh air into this old tradition of puppet play. He usually performs two plays, each lasting about 20 minutes. During the break he entertains children and adults alike with tricks and exotic musical instruments.

Mark your calendar:

WHAT : Kiepenkasper / Uwe Spillmann visits San Diego

WHEN: January 11, 2014 at 11:00 AM

WHERE: German Pacific School of San Diego, 4271 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., San Diego, CA 92117 – For more information call : (619) 354-9991

Kiepenkapser in January2013 http://californiagermans.com/2013/01/16/kiepenkasper-uwe-spillmanns-puppetshow-visits-san-diego/

Ticket Give-Away for Grönemeyer Concerts in San Francisco and Los Angeles

September 7, 2013 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

Have you bought your tickets for Herbert Grönemeyer’s concerts in California?

His two concerts in California, in San Francisco and Los Angeles, are concluding Grönemeyer’s first full USA Tour AND CaliforniaGermans is giving away TWO tickets FOR EACH CONCERT !

Should you still be without tickets, here is your chance to get some for FREE!

ENTER our GIVE-AWAY by clicking on the picture below to win ONE PAIR of TICKETS to either San Francisco’s or Los Angeles’ concert. (Specify on the original Entry Form if you entering for SF or L.A.)

Please ENTER the Give-Away by CLICKING ON the picture ! (You will be redirected to the official Contest Page)

Information on WHERE to buy tickets

For San Francisco at:

http://www.bimbos365club.com/event/302579

For Los Angeles at:

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/09004A85E2149EBE

Ticket Give-Away to Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll” Celebrating His Bicentennial

August 28, 2013 by Cornelia 1 Comment

Salastina Music Society will kick off its fourth season with a special event on Saturday September 7th at 8pm in Thayer Hall at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, and give away one pair of tickets to one lucky CaliforniaGermans winner. (ENTER the Give-Away by clicking the picture below or ENTER on our Facebook Page)

In light of Richard Wagner’s 200th birth year, Salastina Music Society will perform a real jewel and masterpiece of chamber music: The original version of the “Siegried Idyll”, originally set for 13 musicians only.

You might know this beautiful piece of music since it is publicly often performed by a larger orchestra, but Salastina Music Society wanted to capture the personal note of the original piece and invited 11 outstanding musicians to perform this musical treat. “Not many people know that Wagner wrote the Siegfried Idyll as a birthday present for his wife Cosima!” says Maia Jasper, Salastina’s co-artistic director. Richard Wagner apparently gathered 13 musicians in his villa, positioned them outside the bedroom, and gently roused her from sleep with his lovely piece.

Classical KUSC’s Brian Lauritzen, recently profiled in the LA Times as the “youthful, unorthodox laid-back evangelist of the classical radio world,” will guide through the program, which will start with an original arrangement of the fiery Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Wagner’s contemporary, Johannes Brahms.

Among the 11 guest artists are international soloist Hakan Rosengren on clarinet, principal flute of Pacific Symphony Orchestra Benjamin Smollen, members of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and highly regarded rising stars.

The concert will take place on September 7th, 2013 at 8 pm in Thayer Hall at the Colburn School (200 S. Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012).

Discounted tickets ($28) for each concert can be purchased at www.salastinasociety.org; regular-priced tickets ($35) will be available at the door. Students with valid ID may purchase tickets for $10.

Please join the musicians at the complimentary reception immediately following the performance.

As Richard Wagner’s 200 Birthday Nears – Staged Reading of ” Richard and Felix – Twilight in Venice” at the Goethe Institut L.A.

May 20, 2013 by Cornelia 1 Comment

Staged Reading of “Richard and Felix in Venice”
Tuesday, May 21st 2013, 7:30 pm

A short synopsis of the play:

Venice Italy, February 13, 1883. Composer Richard Wagner is seen at the window overlooking the Canale Grand in Venice.

As the music of Felix Mendelssohn plays, Mendelssohn himself, dead since 1847, appears to Wagner from beyond the grave.
Although in reality, the two had but three brief encounters, Richard and Felix: Twilight in Venice provides a fictionalized meeting and discussion between the two composers during the final hours of Wagner’s life.
The dramatic exchanges between the two composers explore not only Wagner’s fascination and animosity toward Mendelssohn’s music, but also examine the music of the time.
Although not a typical topic for the two composers, or their contemporaries the topic of Wagner’s relationship to Judaism—viewed through 21 century eyes— is also explored.

Presented by USC’s Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies, the German-American Cultural Society (GACS) and the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles.

Richard and Felix: Twilight in Venice, had its world premiere in 2010 in Hollywood’s MET THEATRE, and this staged reading will reunite the original cast.
Performed by: Don Paul (Richard Wagner), Jerry Weil (Felix Mendelssohn), Channing Chase (Cosima Wagner), Kelly Chatman (Lover), Christina Linhardt (Narrator)
The evening is produced by Cornelius Schnauber, the author of the play, Emeritus Associate Professor of USC and Founding Director and Director Emeritus of USC’s Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies, and is sponsored by USC’s Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss- Studies, as well as the German-American Cultural Society (GACS).
English translation by Tom Schnauber.

Reception following the event. RSVP required.
$1 Validated Parking at Wilshire Courtyard West Building (P1) on weekends and evenings after 6:00 pm (events only) Related links

Goethe-Institut Los Angeles
5750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90036
$7 General Admission, $4 for students, seniors, GACS members, Free for Friends of Goethe
RSVP: +1 213 7432707
or kade@dornsife.usc.edu

Article / Event Source: Goethe Institut Los Angeles

Villa Aurora – Artists Residence and Cultural Meeting Point in Los Angeles

April 16, 2013 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades is a place where German, European and American culture meet.

Originally the private domicile of German-Jewish novelist Lion Feuchtwanger who had bought the villa in Pacific Palisades in 1943, Villa Aurora quickly became the meeting place for exiled German intellectuals and their American colleagues. Artists and scholars from different disciplines gathered at Villa Aurora for readings and musical evenings, for celebrations and discussions. Albert Einstein, Bertold Brecht,Thomas Mann and Heinrich Mann, Fritz Lang, Arnold Schoenberg, Kurt Weill and many more were part of this eclectic cultural group.

After extensive renovations, Villa Aurora picked up on its tradition in 1995, and since then has continued to be a meeting place for the arts again. With its Artist-in-Residence Grants Villa Aurora awards up to 12 scholarships every year in the areas of literature, fine art, film and music in the German-American cultural exchange program. The villa itself beautifully restored to its former grandeur is listed on the historical register.

Events at the Villa Aurora

Villa Aurora hosts many cultural events throughout the year that open up the splendid residence and location to the public. Some exciting events coming up as soon as this week are listed below:

– Music Memory Metamorphosis –

Los Angeles | April 20, 2013 (7:30 pm)

Viktor Ullmann:
Piano Sonata Nr. 7 (1944) &
“The Lay of Love and Death of the Cornet Christoph Rilke” (1944)
12 excerpts from the poem by Rainer Maria Rilke for speaker and piano

As Cinematic-Musical-Montage

Produced and directed by Gwyneth Bravo with the support of REZN8’s founder Paul Sidlo and featuring live performances by Neal Stulberg and pianist Steven Vanhauwaert, this multi-media program presents composer Viktor Ullmann’s final 1944 works—the Piano Sonata No.7 and his melodrama The Lay of Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke — against a cinematic backdrop. In the spirit of early film and Erwin Piscator’s experimental Berlin theater of the 1920s, the production re-imagines the theater and concert hall as a cinematic space where the live performance of these works takes place inside a cinematic framework, where a kaleidoscope of projected and slowly shifting montage images serves as a visual counterpoint to the poetry and music. Employing a postmodern compositional aesthetic, her film, which Robert Elias, President of the OREL Foundation, describes as “a moving and beautifully wrought immersive work of art,” unfolds in thirteen, short movements and is composed of a series of densely-textured images constructed from the superimposition and animation of a multi-layered and harmonically-conceived series of visual elements.

Neal Stulberg, Recitation
Steven Vanhauwaert, Piano
Paul Sidlo, Technical Production & Design
Gwyneth Bravo, Producer & Artistic Director

For more information and tickets, please go to the following website: http://musicmemorymetamorphosis.brownpapertickets.com/

Admission: Members & Students $10, General Admission $25

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– Two Who Dared –

Los Angeles | Saturday, April 27@ 7:00 p.m.

A documentary by Artemis Joukowsky III USA, 2012, 76 min., digital Presented by Villa Aurora, Artemis Joukowsky III and Robert Lemelson

Q & A and reception for the filmmaker after the screening.

This film tells the story of Unitarian minister, Waitstill Sharp and his wife Martha who, just days prior to the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, left their young children in Wellesley, Massachusetts to help save thousands being persecuted in Eastern Europe.

Who were these American heroes? What drove their willingness to put the well-being of strangers over that of themselves and their family?

Waitstill and Martha were also involved in the Feuchtwangers’ escape from France. They are two of only three Americans who have been honored as “Righteous Among Nations” by Yad Vashem. Two Who Dared has received a number of awards in 2012 including the Special Jury Prize from the Amsterdam Film Festival; Official Selection, River’s Edge Film Festival, and Redemptive Storyteller Award, Redemptive Film Festival

The screening at Villa Aurora is part of a grassroots, community-based effort, at synagogues, churches, theaters, and schools; in cities world-wide!

For more information visit www.TwoWhoDared.com

RSVP required at infola@villa-aurora.org – you will receive a confirmation.

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– Bis an die Grenze – Up to the border –

Los Angeles | Thursday, May 2 @ 7:00 p.m.

A documentary by Claus Oppermann and Gerald Grote Germany, 2011, 95 min. Presented by Villa Aurora and Pacific Palisades Film Festival

Sunday, August 13th 1961, the government of the German Democratic Republic lays the foundation stone for the “ugliest monument in the world”. A whole city is in a state of shock. At first the “atrocious century-construction“ is watched in disbelief. Then people start pulling their 8mm-cameras out of their cupboards to capture the images of the events.

On the basis of these extraordinary, widely unknown recordings and found footage, Claus Oppermann und Gerald Grote’s first feature film tells many impressive but forgotten stories about the rise of the Berlin Wall in 1961 to its fall in 1989, about the division of Germany and a bloody borderline through the middle of Europe.

The Wall, 155 km long, symbol of the Cold War, photographed and filmed million-fold, seen from a private and personal point of view. A unique documentary, put together out of hundreds of previously unreleased substandard films that have never been seen like this before. Many private archives were opened for the first time – a time travel, well worth seeing.

For more information visit http://www.bis-an-die-grenze.de/

Free for members / General $ 5

RSVP required at infola@villa-aurora.org

VILLA AURORA:

Location: Villa Aurora, 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272

Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Event Shuttle service starts usually one hour prior to an event and will start from Los Liones Drive, off Sunset Boulevard two blocks North-East of Pacific Coast Highway.

Please do not park on the Topanga State Park Lot!

To Listen to an Audio Report on the Villa Aurora by PRI on theworld.org click here : PRI- Villa Aurora Audio

Source:

Villa Aurora –

German Mission in the United States –

Photo Credit: Villa Aurora

Germany is Serious About Making Great Films! (crimefilenews.com)