Bertolt Brecht - Biography.

Bertolt Brecht - Biography. German poet, playwright, drama theoretician, and theater director Birth February 10, 1898 Death August 14, 1956 Place of Birth Augsburg, Germany Known for Developing an innovative style of drama known as epic theater Using drama to explore social and ideological issues Milestones 1922 Produced the play Drums in the Night, a work that helped win the Kleist Drama Prize 1924 Took the position of assistant drama specialist at Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater 1928 With Kurt Weill, produced The Threepenny Opera, a ballad opera critical of bourgeois society 1929 Embraced Marxism, a commitment that profoundly influenced the ideas he chose to explore in his work 1933 Was exiled from Nazi Germany for his leftist politics, and spent several years in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland before going to the United States in 1941 1941 Produced Mother Courage and her Children, a play in which a mother figure's greed for wartime profits ultimately leads to the loss of her children 1943 Produced The Good Person of Setzuan, the story of a compassionate prostitute forced to adopt a cruel male persona to survive 1949 Returned to Berlin after a hiatus in Switzerland and formed the Berliner Ensemble, a theater company 1949 Published A Little Organum for the Theater, in which he documents the style he called epic theater Did You Brecht began his career studying medicine and working in an army hospital. Know A Marxist, Brecht was forced to defend himself in 1947 before a congressional committee on un-American activities. While living in the United States, Brecht tried to make a living as a scriptwriter in Hollywood and as a playwright on Broadway, and failed at both. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.