Members of The Company Talk About Their Experiences
With 'Fool for Love' In Berlin
I must say that our trip to Berlin to perform at the B.A.T. was one of the most unique and rewarding experiences of my college career. From the moment we arrived in Berlin, we were treated with the utmost hospitality. As I am a poor college student, the financial assistance that we received was integral to our ability to experience all that Berlin had to offer, such as a production of Brecht's "Happy End", a production of "Orpheus", and our trip to the Sachzenhausen Concentration Camp. More importantly, however, viewing these productions and the B.A.T.'s performance of "Death and the Maiden" demonstrated the differences between German and American production methods and values which I had read about in classes but never truly understood. My favorite part of the trip, however, was working with the incredibly knowledgible and friendly staff of the B.A.T. and getting to know the German students on a more personal basis outside of the theatre. Overall, the trip will stand out in my mind as one of the highlights of my theatrical training and the most diverse cultural immersion that I have experienced.
David McCallum
Taking "Fool For Love" to Berlin was the most beneficial experience that I've had at Dickinson College to date. Not only was I studying my chosen discipline (acting) but at the same time was able to experience another culture in what amounted to an eight day immersion program. I feel that I learned more about Germany's culture, it's history, and it's people, in those all too short eight days than I would have in an entire semester of a German history or language course. My sincerest thanks to the Checkpoint Charlie Foundation and the Berliner Arbeiter Theatre for making possible such a unique and rewarding opportunity.
Ian Walters
The Berlin program offers a unique opportunity for dramatic arts students to experience the cultural differences of theatrical performance in a myriad of ways. The members of the cast and crew are submerged in the contrasting cultural performance standards and techniques on and off stage. As a sound co-designer and technician I spent the evenings of our performance in a room, viewing the show on closed circuit TV with two German technicians who spoke little English. As a audience member I fell in love with the style of performance that the German actors utilized and hoped one day to be educated in some of their same techniques. The week long program was a crash course in Berlin history, theatrical expectations and the way an audience sculpts a very different performance than what the actors and crew expected. Students can never anticipate the impact this experience will have on both their performance and their every day life. Every student takes away something very special from their own individual journey to Berlin both as a performer and a spectator.
