 He would have turned 70 years this many, so we thought it's really a reason to celebrate his work. It's a tremendous body of work. We want to introduce his dear work and discuss his relevance for the new generation of theater makers. We will start with an introduction of his work by Han Kenjiker, the director of the Seagull Center, followed by a Skype interview with Julianne Nebulorenz, who was Postbender's late partner in life and editor of his last films, as well as the president of the Postbender Foundation. Then we have excerpts of three of his plays, followed by a short discussion with the directors. And then we have a really brief reception for all of you to gather and hang out and talk with all of us. So the evening shouldn't be longer than 90 minutes. Please take a moment to take out your cell phone and see that it's off. That's important. So, and then I think that's it. I'm going to introduce him to Han Kenjiker, who will give a brief introduction into his theater work. Thank you. Hanjiker, thank you all for coming out tonight to the Aquatic Center. Cuny here, but we all know that, you know, there's a strange atmosphere in the room, in the world, in the city, you know, after those Paris events, there's a bit more work here to come out, but I think it is important that we all continue lives as we do, in New York it's perhaps not as present as that is in Paris, but still we got a mail from Fiat, our friends, the French-Aliens-Francaise, who we collaborate with a lot, and Jimmy Lili Chopin, who creates also the Crossing the Line Festival, and she wrote me a little note and asked me to read it. So I will ask for a moment of silence afterwards. Dear New York friends, we sadly know what it is to wake up to the reality of a world under attack, but we have learned something from our own tragedies. It is essential to be resiliently joyful and connect to one another with empathy. Our friends and family in Paris need our strength and our love to not let fear overcome their hearts, but instead bring determination to continue to live their lives as they always have in the city below the door. We have a short moment of silence. It was actually a cultural event, a concert that was attacked. So now let's come to the theme of our evening. We already had two screenings about one of our guests that most of us know is the great filmmaker about whose life and work was so closely connected to the theatre at this event. He is here to remind us of all of it. I'm going to read a few notes. I wish I could say I have written them. They mostly come also from Juliana Lawrence, his last partner, who we're going to hear from later on. Rainer de la Fassbinder was a German film director, screenwriter and actor, and he was one of the most important figures in German cinema and also in German theatre. Fassbinder maintained a frenetic pace in theatre and filmmaking. His professional career lasted less than 15 years. He completed 40 feature length films, two television film series, three short films, four video productions, 24 stage plays and four radio plays, and 36 acting roles in his own and others films. He worked as an actor in film and theatre, author, cameraman, composer, designer, editor, producer and theatre manager. Underlying Fassbinder's work was a desire to provoke and to disturb. His phenomenal creative energy when working coexisted with a wild, self-destructive libertinism that earned him a reputation as the enfant terrible and in German cinema also was in the theatre world and to be one of its sample figures. He had a torture of personal relationships with the actors and technicians around him who formed a surrogate family. However, his pictures and his plays demonstrated his deep sensitivity to social outsiders and his hatred of institutionalized violence. He ruthlessly attacked both German bourgeois society in larger limitations and failures of humanity. Fassbinder died on June 10, 1982, at the age of 37 from a lethal cocktail of cocaine and morbid rates. His death has often been cited as the event of the German cinema movement. Fassbinder was born in Bavaria in a very small town on May 1945 just three weeks after the forces occupied the town and three weeks after the unconditional surrender of Germany. The aftermath of World War II deeply marked his childhood and the lives of his family. He was the only child of Wieselotter Tempheit, a translator in Helmut Fassbinder, a doctor who worked out the couples' apartment in Zentingerstrasse in Munich next to the Red Light District. Fassbinder's parents were cultural members of the Munich society. His father mainly concentrated on his medical career, but he also followed his passion of writing poetry. His mother worked in the practice. Tempheit divorced, the parents divorced in 1959 in order to support herself and her son Wieselotter had to take in borders, rented out rooms, and found employment as a German to English translator, so the father did poetry as a translator. When she was working, she often said to her son to the cinema in order to concentrate. Later in life, Fassbinder claimed that he saw nearly every day in his young life a film, and he tried to see one day even three, four, or even five films. Fassbinder was looked after by his mother Tempheit and his parents and friends. When his mother wasn't there, she suffered from tuberculosis and had to go away for a longer period of time. He often clashed with his mother's younger friend, boyfriend, Siggi, who also had a difficult relationship with the much older journalist, Wolf Eder, who became his stepfather. As a teen, Fassbinder was sent to a boarding school, and three times he tried to escape an invention at that school before final examination at the age of 15. They argued a lot, but he tried to go to a night school to finish his high school diploma. To earn money, he worked small jobs and helped his father who rented shabby apartments to immigrant workers. He began to write short plays, stories, and poems. The age of 18, Fassbinder went back to Munich with his plans to attend night school because he wanted to do theater studies, actually something he'd do here at the Grand Center. And for two years, following his mother's advice, he studied acting in a Munich school, a very good one, but actually failed the exam. That's one of the very few actors we ever did. He made small films, eight-millimeter films, and applied to the Berlin Film School. And he also was rejected and did not get in as did Bernard Schuberton, who was up on Braumheim, two significant filmmakers later. He returned to Munich, he did not get up, he continued writing, made short films. And his mother played many farts in the Bartender's son's films, and he was still an important figure in his life. In Munich, where Hassidah couldn't find money to do his films, he joined the Munich Action Theater, the Action Theater, where he became active as an actor-director and scriptwriter. After two months he became its leader, and he staged his first big play, which was called Katzebama, the story of a foreign worker from Greece who became the object of intense racial, sexual, and political hatred among a group of barbarian slayers. A few weeks later, the Action Theater was disbanded and his rise within the group was meant as jealousy from the founders. He left the company and founded his own theater, which was called the Anti-theater, or the Anti-theater. So it's a theater that's called theater, but it wasn't anti-theater. And there was a group that lived and worked together. They all saw production of the Living Theater, of Julius Merlina and Julian Beck, and then inspired them. And the group of young actors that worked together did film, but also theater work. They might have all saw, but in theater it works on every play. They worked together on films, and became most of the very, very famous among them, Hanar Shiguda, who we met in the acting school, where he failed and burned Herman, who became also his first wife, but also an important member of his company. He started as a secretary and he forced her to do acting. In the space of 18 months he directed 12 plays, of these 12 plays, he wrote four, he wrote five other plays, and he took, I don't know, three plays, how they really were. The style of his stage directing closely resembles, that was when he films a mixture of choreographed movement and static poses, taking its cue, not from theater or theater tradition, he never went really to a directing school, but more from musical cabaret, film, especially French film, and from what happened on the streets of the student movement. Maybe it's a good time, here we saw him, and here's some of the stages, maybe a good moment to show one of the clips we have. Maybe we could start with the Katsumaba. It won't be long, because we had screening in the afternoon, but I think it's good to see for a second how that looked like, how it felt like, and we listened to the German words. And Hans Peter always continued to work in theater, even so as a film director, he became a very famous, what was important to him, to form a collective, almost a commune, they worked together, they shared everything, and strong personality, that it became clear that what used to be a traditional thing, that he was kind of a director or a leader, which he didn't really want to, it became clear, actually, this is what everybody expected of Hans, and he was the he became the face of that theater company. So this will be from his first play, that then also became a movie, and in that time, he also became a movie, or whatever he was a movie, he would produce it, he became a stage play, he didn't see any difference, and this is in the back of a pub, that's still a bar, you see in the back, there is a joint in the city, and people were drinking coffee, eating burst, and sausage, and sauerkraut, and they were just there. And everything was steady, he didn't move the camera, the only time he moved when he had his walks, you see it's highly stylized, I don't understand anything, I need to work, I need to work, I need to work. Maybe we can go on to the next clip, as you see, they had no money, no time, they had no space, and this actually informed their aesthetics and their work, and as he said earlier in the afternoon films, he did with something he had, as Brett said, you have to do the house with the stones you have, he asked his friends, his mother, his people, you went to the back of a bar, created his place and felt that this is the way to do art. And there's no separation between life and art. So this is after Carlo Balguni. I don't know. He's a famous Italian writer who wrote the tradition of comitia, the art, or something you don't expect at all from Fassbinder. And in one of the rehearsals, he came in and said, you all do whatever you want. Take a chair, sit down, whenever you feel like speaking a sentence or saying something from what you remember from the play. Just do that. You can go a little bit forward. That's a lot, by the way. See, I think it really happens. So the same, let's go a little bit forward. Just listen how flat these things words are. I don't feel that I'm going to be in your full music. Zekshine, Zee, Benz. I am 1,000 feet. So very democratic movement. Let's go to the next one. You see, he is said to be very democratic. He decided what to say, went to say very bearable in his tactics. One could even see, you know, Pina Bausch, which later on filmed in his only documentary he made. And he, in 1974, took over a famous theater complex. It was called Tiatta Entourne in Frankfurt. Actually, I still remember that. I worked there for a little while. And it was legendary, not only Joseph Doyle, he did the performances of Horace on stage there. Hussbitter was there for a while. And he disregarded every business aspect of it. And played in a big scandal, I think. It's possible a little bit up front. It's okay in this place, would you also be here tonight? Do we have an excerpt on that? So basically, this is the stage play with a projection. And he said, that's a film. Steady, black, in the hand of the... Yeah, maybe we'll let it play without the sound until I finish. So here, you also see highly stylized movement. And he didn't see any victims. The way he directed, like his actors on stage or for film, was the same. He did mostly blocking. You go here, you go from here. He never told an actor what to do. He believed in them. He said, you know already what you do. And they forgot to learn over time. The film was also known as a one-take director in film. He would say, this is the scene, you're an actor. Do with your one chance, put in everything you have. Or you can do with this also. One of the reasons why he was so successful in producing. So many were such a fast pace. And as we all know, they do a lot. This is how you get good at things. And last few questions. I'm sorry to interrupt. Do you know who translated this? I don't know. You don't know? We'll find out. OK. He took over this 1974 theater. There was a very big scanty role to play, which is called City, Garbage, and Death, which was about a real estate tycoon in Frankfurt. A lot of beautiful neighborhoods that survived the war were destroyed. And the main character actually chose to have a Jewish real estate agent. And people were outraged. He said, there's no reason that it has to be a Jewish. A real estate person could have been anybody. And he said, well, he followed a classic play. He said, it's misunderstood. He was accused of being anti-Semitic. He had a German-Jewish community stage protest. The play was never done, only 20 or 25 years later. He said, that's the end of the theater anymore. If this can't be discussed, he said, in the play, it goes back and forth. But still, it was some kind of anti-Semitism. He was accused of, and perhaps the German left at that time. And always like this, and perhaps this is also one of the little bit more of the blind sides of all the radical 68, 69 student movements. Fassbinder used his work as a springboard for making films. Hannah Shigula, who we saw, worked in over 20 films. So it's then when he met her in the acting school, she was in every play. He was highly influenced by Brecht, the Frödinger's effect, the alienation effect, that you show your role. You don't really present your text as if your own language is behind you. You don't stay in front of the text to just represent something you show with gestures was important to him. And it was a great, I think, improvisation and a great adaptation of Brecht's ideas. He was very influenced by new French new wave cinema, Jean-Luc Godard. And because he knew everybody so well, his technicians acted at the FGLA, they had moved really fast and furious. And he also couldn't get government grants because they knew he would always produce this film. I'm moving a little bit faster. By 1976, two years after that theorist candle, he became famous internationally. He won prizes at film festivals in Paris, New York, and in Los Angeles. He was actually more well-known outside Germany. People were very critical of his works. They didn't really understand it. But once he was accepted also in Paris and in New York, the New York Times, the radio was very significant. It identified him as a leading voice in European cinema. But scandals and controversies ensured that Fassbinder was always in the news, then in Germany, not only living together in a kind of a commons and producing it, but then also he had, he drove Lamborghinis but his actors were in pain. He was known to give them some Lamborghinis as gifts for the actor who he liked. And people still had jobs to make their livings and the company in a way that was always on the branch of breaking up his television series, television series, Eight Hours Don't Make a Day was cut from eight episodes to five by the drama television because they felt it was too radical, the significant playwright, Hans Savakratz, sued Fassbinder about an adaptation of his play that he felt it was obscene. But in Alexanderplatz, a great TV series he created was moved to very, very late night because of the young adults that they couldn't really watch what he put out there. It went, there's a long, long list of complications. By the time he made his last film in 82 Crevel, Fassbinder was consuming heavy doses of Jackson alcohol to sustain his unrelenting work schedules in the night of June 10th. He was found to have been in his room actually by the drama when we were the talk two later and the cause of his death was reported as a lethal combination of cocaine and barbiturates. That was supposed to be unfortunate, the mixture and not a suicide. And next to him was found his notes for his next film about Lusenborg. So that is so far. Thank you everybody for listening and for having me, so we move on. Thank you. This is great, it was a great introduction and hopefully also this very productive life from here and on the screen. So let's see who can actually be in connect with Uriana. Oh, they're calling her right now. You're trying to get about the Fassbinder Foundation. Yeah, that's right. So Uriana is the president of the Fassbinder Foundation, which was founded by Fassbinder's mother right after his death. She read it for a couple of years until she could do it anymore and basically handed the reins over to Uriana, who the two women were really close. And then since that time, probably about 20 years or 25 years, Uriana really has built a foundation that is amazingly well run. So she really promotes his work worldwide and there are new releases of the films, new teammates. I mean, the films are being restored and really spread widely and there's a lot of Fassbinder registratives across the world, everything that is basically due to Uriana and her relentless work in promoting Fassbinder's work to dedication to his work. She was also the editor of his last films. Oh, here you go. And she's working, oh, there she is. Here, here, here. Hi, good evening, Uriana, can you hear us? I don't think we hear the songs, though. Yeah, hello, hello, hello. I see everything. Oh, great, great, and we can hear you, can you hear us? I can hear you not very well, but I can hear you. I always see a room, but it's really, oh, I see myself. And I wonder. Hi, Uriana, thank you so much for doing this. It's 1 a.m. in Germany, so it's really wonderful that you can join us. The promise, we don't make it too long, so we have a few questions for you. So this day is dedicated to Fassbinder's stage work. And of course, one question that we have is, how is Fassbinder, there seems to be a resurgence of Fassbinder's work on stage, especially in Germany, I find. Tell us a bit about Fassbinder on stage right now. Well, there is great development since a few years. What meant Fassbinder, after his death, was mostly known as a filmmaker, even in Germany. He was more seen on stage abroad, wherever, South America, France, and other countries in Europe. Germans had always a little problem with anything what Fassbinder did, whether on stage or in films. But we are now on his, he has become 70. So we are 33 years after his death, even 34. So what means people have developed, there is a totally new, wonderful generation since about 20 years, since the unification, especially it came, and a lot of people from each country were interested, always in Fassbinder, especially in his theatre work. So I could even not say that at the moment in the highest point, I would say there were waves. And this year was his 17th anniversary, even the theatre festival in Berlin had focused on him in a kind of tied-in-life Fassbinder in focus. And in this city at the, in springtime, there were about four stage plays of him, like Petter von Kant in a small theatre, in big theatres. There were stage adaptations, I would say, from his films, The Marriage of Maria Brown, a figure toured also to the U.S., I think it was a few years ago, in Paris, in Paris. And Mr. Ostonweyer, who is the chief director of the Chamblion directorate, wonderful, wonderful, a very, very big, wonderful play. Five men played all parts, only Maria Brown was the main character and was the woman. There is Ali Filiz, The Soul, which was never made as a stage play, it's also an adaption. World Over Wire, I was in New York, I know it was in New York three years ago. These are just tidings. There is much, much more, and we are sometimes not getting through everything, and enough. Because still in Germany, there is a high culture on stage, and Fassbinder has become, let's say, besides the Brecht and Heiner Miller, a main author in repertoire theatre, and in big theatres. So, in what, what did theatre mean to him? Pardon me? What did theatre mean to him? So, when... Well, I side find, he was always in Germany when he started in the late 60s with anti-theatre, it was called, which didn't mean he was against theatre, which could be possible that people think that, think that by the title of his theatre, it was written anti-theatre without age, that he was very keen with that. It meant we need a new form of theatre, but it meant also that in a way he never, he also, he wrote his plays because of lack of money, because they have no money for stage fees. And with this little, big group of young people who just came from theatre, which he met at the end of 1967, which were just starting, and he was a kind of, let's say, pusher, bringing them together with their energy and with their ideas. And he wrote his first play for these people. He had written a few little plays before, we never spoke about that, but writing a starter to write theatre plays always with an idea, it will be also possibly a film. So, he mixed theatre in film very early, but I remember him once saying that he said, you know, people took you more serious in Germany if you didn't take theatre, so that is how he started. If he was still alive, what do you think he would be writing about today? What would he be? What would he be writing about? So, what would he be writing about? Oh my God, there isn't enough writing about because our world is not in order since a few years as we know that, and especially after this weekend in Europe, we are again in this kind of state of no return in what do we do in the future. It is not war, what people say, but there were big attacks in Paris. And what does that mean? From where does it come? We didn't arrive from yesterday to today. There is a development. It is a social situation. We all know about it. You had September 11th. I think he wouldn't have written too much about this if he wouldn't have lived in America as he was a very European person. I guess the last 10 years he would have had, even 20 years, he would have had a lot of material. And you will have that too, I guess. It's true. Okay, thank you so much, Diana. So, we don't want to take up too much of your time. That was great. She could watch the three scenes. She can stay on Skype and watch the three scenes. Oh, that's right, that's right. Prank was just saying, it's live screened what we're doing here, so you could actually stay on and watch the three scenes that are being performed here now. I would be happy. Yeah, so I think you have to comment the link. So, we will send you the link to actually watch these three scenes. Oh, great. Yeah. So, how many people are there? I'm sure, and we already have people. 30, 30, 40 people. Yeah. But, let's go to the next scene and... Let's back to the actors. Yes, so, we're gonna move on to our first scene. Thank you so much, Diana. That was really, really wonderful. And thanks for joining us. The piece that we're going to see is called Playroom Highlights. And we have a great freedom to recognize just from the go. It's a story of Alicia Gottfried, a beautiful freedom who's fighting for her life to be free and a self-sufficient woman. When her husband dies, she inherits the family business, and as it turns out, she's very capable of running it. Unfortunately, one man after another appears and her husband wants to take it away from her, saying that she's better suited for kitchen work and, you know, dealing with housing and family. But, over the years, these men all die under mysterious circumstances. The action takes place in Bremen around the 1820. Biscuits and gravy. On the 31st of October, we shall lay to rest our beloved mother, Clara Matilda Steinbocker, taken from us by the good Lord... Quiet! His constant yowl will be the death of him. More coffee. So, the execution is to take place Friday, November 3rd, 1814, in the Market Square. Randy, when I say Randy, woman, I mean the bottle. Not if you miss the drops. Here's to you, cigar. I'll have one evening of peace in this house. Quiet! Shut the windows. Another ghost, spotted in Bremen. There you go. We need to fire that intense. Strange things occurring in this city. Prepare my nightcap. It's heading. Quiet! From Madison. He looks at her. A long, ominous pause. Then he sets the newspaper down, slowly rises, approaches his guichet. For a moment, one has the feeling he wants to embrace her. But then he starts hitting her. Quite brutal, until she lies sobbing on the floor. He stands over her, a knock at the door. Milton Berger opens. Godfrey, Zimmerman, and Rue Maté. See his guichet and go sit. We were just pressing by, brother. So we're gonna get this delivery. There's so much liquor in there. Better to serve my son. So Zimmerman is that then done? Brother called out there. Your wife, she's lying on the floor. Crying. One of her fainting spells. Give show! Brandy. Making roast buds. What a thing. You're about to rent to the Doria? Shut her place down. They shut it down. Shut it down, being the girls are infected. Then, VD go on. VD? No, that's not it. Which girls? God, no. No. Just see. No. Not any of these are solid premises of the proud father of a civic court. Get on your knees, an orphan. A prayer of thanks for the good health and the good fortune of your children's father. Restrainting the mother of his children with bare hands. Her eyes go out of her head naturally. He asks, sir, ice-cold tone voice. Harry, what do you think your staring at? A man is going at it with a woman. Gets a little carried away, finds her check. Afterwards, he says, Or play the kid on me. He waits for poppin' me. I have to see just how much my wife loves me. Giza, come here. Say, say, I want you. I want you. They laugh. Giza cries. Giza cries. Giza cries. Giza cries. Giza cries. I like it. Giza cries. She loves his boss. No gets to stop him. Giza cries. She knows the meaning of humility. Jesus Christ, she's like a wild mare in heat. Just right for someone who's got what I do. There's an execution on Friday. I almost get hard at this foot second before the axe. What goes to the condemned man's mind the last few seconds? What does she feel? What? I'm going home. It's been a long day. So we're off until tomorrow. She makes still. He staggers towards her. She tries to evade him, but he catches her. She sees some power. Don't be absurd, woman. You have to learn who's master of this house, who's entitled to his little privileges. He rests and starts in the bedroom, knocks her down again, kisses her. Scene change. Through lighting or other matters. Nelson Berger answers. Giza answers. And so the immigrant who was in the U.D. neighborhood, this eventually became, it started, it was with this play and it eventually became a significant film. It was directed by Ashleigh Smith. Okay, so, Mani belongs to Erich. Paul speaks to, that's what we're starting with. That's the scene where we're just, that's what we're going to be doing. We're going to be doing this program ourselves. Okay, Mani belongs to Erich, Paul speaks to Herrera. Peter lets himself be kept by Elizabeth. Rosie does it with funds for money. In the backcourt, in the tavern, in the flats, they meet, safely, in couples, as a group, in exchange of opinions. Become aggressive, get bored, piss off one another, drink. The fact that Herrera, who belongs to Paul, gets involved with this great Erich, or that Peter is getting fed up, there's more. There's more. Oh, Jesus, here we meet, we're in a room tiny, never done anything, so I am crazy, with all my things together, forever. What is the right kind of decency in the whole thing? The bus and knuckles, we hear it, but we ought to keep it quite, piss on quiet, let's do it the sooner the better. We gotta be careful. Does she have to bring it with her to go to the church? Because she doesn't know any better. He has a religion, too. I don't know what kind. It'll kind of all matter. Do you hear what they're saying? All that whispering will mess up the priest's sermon. I don't hear it. The bigger the scale, a land in our face, it's a land out of our rhythm, and we hear it inside race, you don't get nothing from nothing, it's gotta get started. We best in leather jackets, right out in the open, but they have everywhere except us. There's no reason to wait. I'm gonna talk to her after. She'll know what you think of her. I'm scared because there ain't nothing good coming from no one. Things are just the way they are, you can't change nothing. Are you going as far as the blood? He's heard to repast the land. Rose-brows and he's here as far as the blood. Ball, ball, black nigger, have you any wool? Yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full. One for my master, one for my lady, one for the little whore who lives down in the lane. Let's start on that. Oh yeah, they can do whatever they want, right? But you can do whatever you want sure, because you put up in high places. Third line doesn't bother with you. They tried, right? But we've got morals. We don't go with everyone. Everyone is better than no one. If I looked like you, I'd be ashamed. Yeah, you're such a beauty, you had to get it forward. Whose business is it anyhow? Besides, it's not foreigner. It's guest laborer. Not much difference when it's in your bed. My dad's my business. Keep your nose out of it. Ball, black nigger, have you any wool? You know what you're saying? You're yourself, he's not a nigger, and besides, he works better than any of you. Are we addressing her? We haven't said a single word. No one understands. You're going to understand when you're swallowing your teeth. No one understands. On account of he upset everything and we want to straighten it out again. We need our peace and quiet. Well, we'd be alone if you gave her a piece of quiet. Watch your mouth. If I had a calm mind-ass. No, you just get your filthy hands off me. Are my hands dirty? Take a look. Ain't no dirt nowhere. Yeah. And if they're dirty as yours, there ain't no way. There ain't no way that they'd be able to see. You don't know what shame is. You can pick up whatever's around. And only bother to look at other people's dirty wash. I'm going. People like me can't be talked to. No, you just head in right now to call me. Drop it. It's too dangerous. I don't want to take this shit. We'll catch him along with some other time. It won't work then either. That's not what that has to be. He wasn't always the little love thing. Everybody's talking that has to be something to it. No one knows nothing. Nothing. Happen. Happen. Babe, that's it. And what happened then? You and they don't know. That's what happened. Nothing happened. Happened. I love you so much, but I have a funny feeling. Funny feeling? About the others? They're getting ready for something nasty. No one will understand. All of a sudden, they... No, Bang Bang. Because you're so nice. Still gonna take me to Greece with you? Go Greece together. And your wife? No, I don't understand. Your wife? Your ghost? Wife? No, I don't understand. Because it really got to me. They don't know. But it doesn't bother me. I'm for the leather jackets. You're gonna go for it? Go for it. What do they cost? 300? Price. But there are those American jackets. The blue ones? You could stick something on the back. Chicago Rockers? Something like that? No. And everyone needs a set of knuckles. Get that in your pocket, you're flying. Hey, Bruno's in too. He's old now. What's that about? A lot of the jackets would still be better. There's marriage. Don't you want to get married? I don't know. Married life, no, that's something. Don't underestimate the steady life. You never know. You're saying about us? Your ghost understand all the time. No, no, but it's what they say that's important. You need to understand. Understand. Because they all got something for you. But even with Marie, right? Marie, beautiful girl. And me? Much beautiful. Oh, so. What about it? Green. Perfect timing. Shut up! Nothing to say? No, I don't understand. You understand. They're calling me. They're going to meet me for now. Sooner or later, the way he carried on here, like he belonged. The way he looked at you, like me, in a butcher's store. It won't stop here. Not if he's had enough. He's got to go. Right? We've got to get back to normal. We have to get revenge. Right. Did he get up again? Done on the left. Who cares? Right. He's got to go for a check. For sure. Because things ain't so nice anymore. We're the only ones who belong here. You have to go in with them. That's what. I don't understand. Do I hit them over here? No, I don't see it. I don't understand. Do I know how? Bang, bang. No, I don't know how to. I don't know how to make it. Oh, bang, bang. Me. Bang, bang. No, I don't understand. Greece, nice. Germany, much cold. Kiss me. I need you. So is he going? No. And you didn't tell Elizabeth she won't get off any better next time. Yeah, yeah, but she doesn't believe it. She's crazy. It's easy to see what's better for her. She said it's better for business. Did she say it? Yeah. Yeah, right, because it's true. I hope so. Because we produce more now. And she only pays him 650 marks. He sleeps in my room, and she deducts 150 marks for that. 150? That's a lot. Right, right. And for food, another 180. That comes to 330 marks. She pays in 320 marks. Not bad. That's what the man from the foreign labor department of Munich told her. You have to do it that way. Because then, it's more productive because they're here, and the money stays in the country. So that's how it is. Yeah, right. It's a trick for Germany's sake. She knows about business, and Elizabeth, I always said so. She's not going to ship anyone out, she told me. Most likely, she'll get another one. You need savvy. It's what it takes. So in March, I'm joining the army, because it beats working here. I'm going to have to, too. That's for me. I want to be a submarine, because it's different from being on the land. You have to go where they tell you. Who cares where you go anyway? They have a new colleague in January. A Turk, maybe he's too old for construction or something. Turk? A Turk is coming here. Work, like you. Turkish no good. Others no? No, no, because I have to see what they said to me. Turkish no. Yolgos and Turkish no work together. Yolgos go other town. He's taken me to Greece with him in the summer. What about his life? Doesn't make any difference. It's not the same in Greece. OK, and then we need to fulfill the idea later. It's to sort the project and come to famous fashion design of autumn loft with a 23-year-old model and a night-trip to our house. Also being involved in another relationship, a sad, masochistic entanglement in the play and suits. I need to be. I am your partner. I want you to feel like this sometime. I want you to be lost. Everything will seem so different. You're so stupid, so fucking fake. Please don't realize that. Only then it'll be too late. Far too late. Trust me, I shall be avenged. You should have been there with a planche. I'm like, it was common here. No. No? She won't be coming, though, won't she? No, I don't think she will. Well, it doesn't matter. Never like too much anyway. Leave me. Well, you know, she is. She's pretty common, isn't she? No, she is not. Anyway. Oh, mommy, I feel so sad. So I'm happy. I'm happy. No, actually, I'm incredibly happy. But I don't know, mommy. It's all so complicated. What's wrong? I'm so narrow-minded. I'm just going to take some getting used to. Try, please. OK, big gaffey. Tell me about your boyfriend. Oh, that's just it. Mommy, he isn't my boyfriend, not yet. He doesn't know about me loving him. He's so uncaring you wouldn't believe. I've been trying to flirt with him for like three weeks and he completely ignores me. He behaves like I don't exist. Oh, mommy, it's so awful. That'll change, gaffey. Believe me. Oh, mommy, he's so gorgeous. Can't imagine how gorgeous he is. Yes, I can. He's very tall and slim with blonde hair. And he looks a little bit like Sam Neil. How did you know that? No, I'm not telling you. You treat her so badly, mommy. Because she deserves no better. And actually, she doesn't want it any other way. She's happy like that. You understand? No. For God's sake, there's no need to go worrying about the health. I won't argue with you on your birthday, mother, but you ought to be aware that on this subject, our views differ. All right. Children should be encouraged to form their own opinions. That is the current thinking, isn't it? Ding dong. Do you see the mean? As long as you pass, that's the main thing. Marlene! Let's do it, Marlene. To judge your mother's behavior. All right. I won't say anything. Darling, how are you? How am I supposed to be? Tom. What? Because it's obvious. Because you have to live, Petra. Because you have to work if you want to earn money. And because you need money if you're going to live. That's just it. Work used to be fun. Now it sucked all the life out of me. It's gone. There's no need for that. Have you heard from Karin at all? Karin? No. Have you? Well, I happen to know she's working for Gucci. Oh, Gucci. Yeah. Very talented girl. Going to have a big career from that certain. Talented? She's not talented. Sidney, she just knows how to sell herself. I'm not sure you're being quite fair on her, Petra. Maybe your judgment's a little too subjective. She's here, by the way, today. And hello. She is. You are splendidly well informed, darling. Really. To be honest, I wouldn't have known either of Karin and her husband called me this morning. Did you tell her? And she said she'd tried to drop in, but she wasn't at all sure. She's frighteningly busy. Yes. She's frightfully busy. Oh, yeah. Don't tell me. Working so much. You need to watch yourself, Petra. People can get dropped a lot faster than you think. I'm so sorry I've waited and waited and we've had so much to come. Happy birthday. Is anyone else coming? No. Well, let's all sit down, shall all sit on me. You get younger and younger. Hello, auntie. It's simple because I'm happy. Go on the traffic and listen to this. Deadly. Well, I'll have to be up on school. Well, look, though, if you've been arguing, I think you've been to speak, Grandma. That's not true, Gabby. You've forbidden me to have an opinion about you. No, I've forbidden you to do anything that's never a lie. You did stop me saying something. A whole new child. Calm down, Trinidad. It's only nice to one another. Make me sick. I will make you pardon. Please sit down. Plus the matter, child. You're so hypocritical. The law of the immemorial looking child, I hate you. I think you are a whore. Who do you love? You love her? A girl? A girl? A little thing that is more broad than all of you together. Oh, pardon. pardon me, please. Get away from me, you monster. Jane! My father's in love with a girl. Poor child. I don't want you to die, Mummy. I really want to die. I've nothing on Earth left to give. When you're dead, everything's calm. Everything's beautiful. And peaceful, Mummy. Everything's peaceful. Mummy. Mummy, I'm so fond of you. You take pills, Mummy. Just put them in a glass of water, swallow them, and go to sleep. It stays wonderful, Mummy. I haven't slept for so long. I want to sleep. For a long, long... For a brief discussion, for basically, also, be directed. Thank you so much. I'd like to introduce, just by name, this is Jess from Gallo. She directed Graham and Freedom. Caitlin Mayan-Napal directed Peter Tiers of Peter from Plant. And Ashley Tata directed Katsumaha. Okay. So, and I'm Henshkar. Thank you so much for joining the discussion. So, well, we just have a bunch of quick questions and then I would love to open it to the audience. So, where did you... And this question is for all three of you. So, when did you discover Frostbender? Really? Okay. I guess, when I was an undergrad at NYU, I had to do teamwork on Peter Tiers. And I was a horrible mismatch for that. I played Karen. It was a nightmare. I think it certainly changed over the last decade. Yeah, so that was my first encounter. And then with the actual, like, stage play text. And then I remember being really high with my roommate in college a little while after we tried to watch the film version of it. And I was like, this is so slow. And then I ended up loving Frostbender years later. But that was my first encounter. A few of Frostbender's films when I was an undergrad at Wellesley and didn't really know much about him then. And then I'm in grad school at Brown right now. And my second year I was looking for something different, brutal, huge. And I was talking to Eric again. And he said, you have to read all of Frostbender's plays. That's the key role plays. And then I looked into it. And so it's just been like a year, two years now that I've spent more time with him and his writing and his work. I was I don't know if I should do that. I was a mentor of mine was working on the Year 13 films. And he suggested that I watch the DVD and I brought it at my boyfriend's parents to their house. And I said, we should watch this movie together. You also directed that play not too long ago. Last spring we did a full production at Brown. And that was can you tell us a little bit also about your work? Yeah, sure. So we do our shows in a bank downtown in Providence. And so you can basically do whatever you want with the design collaborators. And it's the first time you get to work with them your second year. And so we designed like this curated art gallery space where there were stanchions and free sort of stanchions of squares. And that was like four hundred. And her people lived and the audience could move around and sort of have this voyeuristic experience of the play. And the movie was playing on a little TV and there were lots of mannequins and a bathtub full of tab. And I got a phone call that donated like two hundred cans of tab. And so everything was like based off the colors came up tab. And there were balloons and so none of the people that you saw were in that but some of them were around alums. And, you know, it was wild. It was a mess. But really fun. That was also a concept to use. Oh yeah, sorry. And I also used, yeah. I had three women available and then the rest of the males in my class. And I really wanted to do the play. And I also think that it's an interesting thing to do with his work because he's constantly talking about men and women. And it was a man who wrote a play about women so I felt like he was in every character. And there's a lot to talk about when we talk about sexuality and gender with his work. So I did use Thurman in the books that you saw him in today. Which actually, please, there's a next question. So what is it that resonates in his work for you, for all three of you? So where's the slide? It's so funny to use this mic because you can all, is this for like a recording? Is that right? I mean the I don't know how to be so safe about it. I do think the read, like the what compels me about a there is also what terrifies me in myself which is his, what appears to me is pursuit of freedom at all costs. Which is a way that I'm terrified to live but would like to aspire toward. So that's tremendously inspiring. I also think that he is so elegantly able to like bang you on the head with like a passionate idea. It feels like he cares about and is intentional in all of his gestures. I mean that like he's just like I just feel like he's like holding up he's holding up a sign that says I feel this, I believe this and he like does, he's on the way through in that. And I really, really love that. I love, I love, I always come in for the rap, I suppose, but I love how explicit it is. I feel the same in that different way I think. I feel like he's not afraid of putting anything in front of us and showing us the taboo or what people say is taboo but what is so human and it's terrifying to me and it forces me to be bolder as an artist when I encounter his work or repeat or think about it and it can take like his work is full of the extremes so you could do anything stylistically with his work and there's such also this haunting, frightening real, raw, human underneath it all that seems to speak directly to us and so even though their style and like, you know, in act 4 what you just saw like extreme style, the whole play doesn't live there, it goes like a roller coaster through many different styles and tones and it can kind of, yeah, it's like a scary, terrifying, but needed recognition I think that we're all sort of addicted to once we, yeah once we start. The material, it was interesting doing this piece right now we worked on it a bit last time and then today before coming here listening to Obama's just the summit and then having a little bit of conversation with the actors about how these themes are continuing to resonate and so there's this he's able to kind of what Steve would be telling about the humans and for me at least for me it was obviously the humans and the pieces is this kind of this real longing and real desire to for true, for love and acceptance if I find and there are kind of in some ways trying their best to do that and also but then there are also who they are and so frequently I find that you follow these characters through a journey and you're kind of like, yeah totally, I see why you're doing that but that's really not okay to be doing but I see why you're doing it and you come out the other end and you realize that they're doing the things that you probably are doing on a day-to-day basis without realizing it and and that is always like that's the journey that we're taking on but it's within the society at large that kind of implicitly sets that up for us kind of that journey for us to be going on and so it's a really human portrayal of what finally is this like the structure around us at all times but we'd love to also open it up to the audience are there any questions that you want to ask I wonder if we can that's going to be the light for the audience the questions or comments for the two directors who adapted the stage versions did you did both of you purposely see the movies Pats and Moffler and there it is before you saw this or did you try to avoid seeing the movies did you try just to work from the play as a play I haven't seen the movie in years I I don't usually try and watch other things other versions of things I'm about to do just because because I really want to see what the text is telling me to do with it so I did see it years and years ago and so I have big memories of it but no I haven't watched it and I try to get my cast not to watch it but some of them did the cast Moffler was a play first that he made into the film and I actually saw him play first in Europe in a way and then saw the that was a couple of years ago and then saw the film quickly their actor and then when this opportunity came up Antia sent me the play and I was like how is it possible this is a 20 pages how is it possible this is a full length film and what we did not do it's just the portrait and the composition and the composition is beautiful and it's just people sitting in these situations and so and I didn't do that but and just to say you can watch all what Frank was showing excerpts of you can watch all of Berlin Freedom on YouTube that stage version is like an hour and 40 minutes long and I actively did not watch it I started watching it and then I stopped and then I realized later that anyways in which my staging ended up aligning with his staging staging seemed to be pure demands of the text which I wanted to resist I had like a different idea about the text or like I wanted to try something on it and then the text didn't make sense the text was stronger than my idea just an action to ask you a question about the text do you have the you can ask me did he because in the Cosmogre and maybe you are and because you know get your hands off me I guess your hands were on them were there stage directions and you're in that piece everything that James everything that everything that James right was a stage direction but I know actually I just saw a lot of theaters in a situation but but yeah but but then there are stage directions missing all over the place and it is like that Shakespeare thing where the next line just jumps a feeling and you're like oh I gotta feel why are all those ellipses there what is she doing in those ellipses like that first speech that Jason has to give is like just a list of just a list of words just a list of words what we saw actually was a movie made for tv so it wasn't actually a staged filming it was a real film I read about that I mean he did it in like like he did it on stage and then they did this tv version of it right but they did that I mean that's what's this is what's insane to me about imagining being like a producing artist in Germany in the 70s just the ability to I mean he's obviously a virtuoso but the ability to make that much working on stop I can't figure out a paradigm like I don't think I will ever know that to be creative in that way I mean even like some substance you know what I mean but if you have an idea and you put it on tv like I don't think you see that very often I mean I explain it to you on the internet but that's like so much more beautiful and exciting or you don't have the opportunities that he had that he actually yeah I mean I guess we could have a whole conversation that was also later than later in his career but that he was commissioned to actually create these tv series or something like that by one of our tv stations I mean in Germany yeah but it's true I mean the sheer madness of this output is kind of wild you know so do we have another there was this I just once you know reminded so much of lucky in like it's waiting for Godot in the crunches was that not no no but we have to like go back and read that play now brought that up do we maybe have one more question then we will have a little reception afterwards thanks so much that was beautiful I love what you guys did I love phosphinders myself I'm curious number one of your favorite phosphinders film out of curiosity and I'm very fascinated because that he worked with nothing I guess for a long time what do you think about that and is it possible to then work with something and recreate somebody who worked with nothing you know what I mean like what's the does that formally create a problem I guess it's a couple of you seem to be working at institutions with large crews and stuff and here goes you know you know they design something in a bank and all these things I'm curious about what you think about that problem this is a great question I think to deal more things with less I think that's they're like there's there coming up are we just make more with less I'm into that I think it's important and I think it works for so much and it and and my favorite scene is from phosphinder is which movie is from it's the slaughterhouse scene thank you seeing that scene it's so good it's you're in the slaughterhouse and you also see two characters having a conversation you see their feet walking by all these cows that are being killed in front of you she's she's in heels yes in heels and that's where they're playing the lead character no it's just kidding I lie there's heels what's that who is it in place I don't remember the name but it's yeah it was very cool it's so good that's my favorite scene it's incredible I think it's also about he puts he he forces us to see remulsion be repulsed and be attracted to so much and I think that there's a lot of intolerance in the world like extreme intolerance and there's extreme examination of intolerance in his work and that's I think what we should keep doing it and doing it with very little I'm actually also doing a lot with very little I think I think a lot of us are in that world and continue to do that I think it's really exciting what you can do with very little I do think that we're in a place where a lot of us are creating the expectation that we shouldn't ask for anything or that we won't get anything and I think that that should end so I'm actually of a place of I mean yeah sure we can do a lot with little but we shouldn't be expected to and I'm so I think that you know Fassbender and his trajectory and what he he did is very exciting in that you can put out a lot of work and you can demand excellence from yourself and your peers and your audience but I think that tied into that is we should also expect more from our from institutions and so I just wanted to say that my current Fassbender in session movie is I Only Want You to Love Me which is a film that like very few people know that he made to the point where I actually check this on a daily basis as I say it's my favorite film of his you know like people who really always work that have not heard of it so that's my favorite Fassbender film like that it's a really beautiful piece about two people who are you know trying to who are trying to make a life for themselves and and what it is to ask somebody to love and how you actually show up to a person and then like and are we equipped to do that well like speaking to working with few with few resources I was just like at the O'Neill Center last week like at their acting program I was like doing a residency for another project and was so blown away by what was going on in this particular place because they're like students there who are all like in their very early 20s and they work seven days a week seven thirty to ten every day so creativity in this really incredible way is just kind of flowing through them all the time because they're forced to produce art like all day long like they get scenes on like Wednesdays and they put them up on Friday at like off book like really poor theater like whatever and it's they're like working off of her top ski model as well they're like and they're going to do it with their bodies they're going to do it with the trash in the room and they have like maybe like some like skeletal boxes that they'll use to like create walls and shit and that was really amazing but like always like even underneath that kind of like underneath what we call poor theater there's like larger systemic stuff is that supports that like those like the um so for example like um like like possibly working with nothing but also sort of having like people coming out of a theater program who wanted to show some allegiance to him and potentially didn't have to work so much that they could actually function as an ensemble and know each other and like they don't know like like green money in hand can like show you that on the surface but like that's like a huge resource as people like intuitive each other like that and being able to work with that body so like that's the deeper thing like so I know like that's what I would like from the art practice is to be able to like keep an ensemble around and if you think about how to keep an ensemble around um like I suppose and which involves which involves space and time but it doesn't necessarily involve objects but that's still a cause um and my favorite I don't want to take yours I mean that scene is amazing it's probably like yeah my favorite monologue could be written as a piece of text but I'll say like tonight the marriage of Maria Braun I'll say that yeah thank you so very much for all three pieces all three pieces were amazing I mean it was really wonderful thank you so now please take a round