Historical Background, Dramaturgy, and Design

Photo of Mo Shipley, Kate Collins, Brandon Ruiter, HB Ward, Terry Bell, Jack Doherty, Raven Whitley, Tim Decker, and Elizabeth Laidlaw by Michael Brosilow.

Explore the historical context of Berlin, its dramaturgy, and the design of Court Theatre’s production.

Historical Background

Use these resources to learn more about the years preceding Berlin, the political turmoil that arose during the Weimar Republic, and the devastation that followed.

World War I
- World War I: One Word | History (2:30)
- World War 1, Explained in 5 Minutes! (5:20)
- WW1 – Oversimplified (Part 1) (6:30)
- WW1 – Oversimplified (Part 2) (7:40)
- Nationalism and WWI | History (2:40)
- World War 1 (All Parts) by Epic History (1:05:00)
- Post-World War I Recovery: Crash Course European History #36 (15:00)
Hitler, the Nazi Party, and Fascism
- How did Hitler rise to power? – Alex Gendler and Anthony Hazard (5:40)
- Hitler – OverSimplified (Part 1) (6:30)
- Hitler – OverSimplified (Part 2) (8:30)
  - 3:20-5:20 covers the time period of the play (1928-1932)
- Joseph Goebbels – The King Of Propaganda (Biography) (5:45)
- The Nazi rise to power (Article)
- The 10 tactics of fascism | Jason Stanley | Big Think (9:50)
- What is Fascism? | World History Project (13:15)

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Dramaturgy

Check out these resources that shed light on some essential themes and motifs in Berlin, providing a glimpse into the dramaturgical research that went into this production.

Articles
- No More Precious Stones: Weimar is a kaleidoscope, a collage, a variety show, a dance on the edge of a volcano. Dive into the period and its rich history alongside University of Chicago professor Alice Goff.
- Conjuring Berlin: Intense invention, intense reaction. Production Dramaturg David J. Levin gives a tour of Berlin in 1928, setting for this exhilarating world premiere.
Music
- Music abounds in Berlin! Listen to the tracks featured in the show here:
Systems of Government
- Communism Vs Socialism Vs Capitalism | What’s the difference between Communism Socialism Capitalism? (2:50)
- Capitalism, Socialism, Communism: Distinguishing Important Economic Concepts (Article)
Culture, Clubbing, and Daily Life

Nazi marchers are in uniform, and some carry instruments. Members of the crowd do the Nazi salute back to the marchers. — Young Heinrich Himmler gives the Nazi salute as he marches in the first Nazi Reichsparteitag (Reich Party Day) rally in Nuremberg (1927). Photo credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of James Blevins.

The main building of The Universität der Künste Berlin (also known as the Berlin University of the Arts), in 1902. This is where Marthe and Anna would have gone to school.

A rearview view of the railway station shows train tracks running under a large archway between two towers. — Berlin Potsdamer Bahnhof, the Berlin train station, in 1876.

Railcars, motorcars, and people bustle through the busy intersection. — An aerial shot of Potsdamer Platz at the end of the 1930s.

Motorocars, trams, and horses and buggies drive in a busy road in front of a very large, grand building. — Traffic on Potsdamer Platz, 1920. Photo: IMAGO / Arkivi.

Photo taken from Potsdamer Platz. Trams on their way to Leipzigerstrasse, passing between the two gate houses.

Patrons at the club dance, smoke, and drink. — Patrons party at a Berlin nightclub around 1930. These clubs were known for jazz, sex, and drugs.

Swimmers play in the waters of Berlin’s river, the Spree, in 1930. Onlookers sit along a wall to watch.

A painting of a woman in drag in a club. She wears trousers, a vest, cuffs, and a tophat, striking a pose and smoking a cigarette while more femme–presenting people dance around her. — Jeanne Mammen, She Represents, c. 1928, watercolour and pencil on paper, 42 x 30.4 cm, private collection.

A young boy stands against a wall holding a copy of AIZ, the communist newspaper. He wears a newscap and a messenger bag. Snow is visible on the ground behind him. — Conrad Felixmüller’s painting Zeitungsjunge, or “Newsboy,” 1928, might have served as the inspiration for Lutes’s character David Schwartz.

An ad for the Resi Club shows people dancing in the background. In the foreground, a couple takes items from the pneumatic tube at a table, on which a telephone sits. — The Resi club was a hotspot during the Weimar Republic. It had private telephones on the tables for anonymous flirting across the club, as well as pneumatic tubes for patrons to send each other gifts, and allegedly drugs.

Two people wearing drop-waits, 20s-style dresses and cloche hats stand on a walkway looking at the camera. The image is accompanied by headlines in German. — An issue of the German lesbian periodical Die Freundin, May 1928. Die Freundin was the world’s first ever lesbian publication.

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Design

Behind the Scenes: Check out Scenic Designer John Culbert’s and Costume Designer Jacqueline Firkins’s inspiration and renderings for this world premiere.

Posted on April 19, 2025 in Learning Guides, Productions