Feuerbach by Dan Gschwind

Music by Dan Gschwind for " ICH FEUERBACH " (1993)
a dance and theater performance in San Francisco and the Bay Area 1994

All instruments except guitar on "Goin´Nuts" by Dan Gschwind
Guitar on "Goin´ Nuts" by Joachim Shunyam Körber"

Artwork by Haidrun Gschwind

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"Ich Feuerbach" - The Play and The Concept
Tankred Dorst ,,Ich Feuerbach" a dance and theater Performance.

The play has three cast members and a undefined number of extras. The play premiered in its original language October l8th 1986 at the Residence Theater, Munich. The play has been translated into English for this performance.

The storyline of the play is very simple. lt shows the actor, Feuerbach, who wants to audition for a play. It shows the process in which the actor, as well as the directing assistant, have to wait for their boss, the director himself, Feuerbach is reflecting on his life while waiting.

The assistant is pretending to be very busy. The extras who are stagehands and who are performed by the Dancers are working on the set.

This waiting process gives Feuerbach the opportunity to show who he really is inside, which normally isn´t the case during auditions. He shows that he is another Parcival, a Tasso, an Othello, a Prince Henry IV. He is also able to show his abilities, which exceed the ability to take a part in the production. He creates miracles, and does magic tricks on stage. Quite simply he affects people.

,,I reach my audience every night through the same fight and not with the tricks we both know"

This is exactly what makes Feuerbach unpredictable. Nobody knows why and how he is so effective. This inexplicable charisma is part of the risk in dealing with him.

The concept of the production shows a hierarchic system in the form of a pyramid. The assistant director is very close to the top of this pyramid and therefore very difflcult to affect. The stagehands are located at the base of the system; they are the labor force. They are not much involved in the system and its principles. Therefore, they are more easily affected by Feuerbach. That means their minds aren't spoiled yet. They are characters.

The combination of verbal expressions with which Feuerbach tries to affect his opponent, the assistant, and the emotional reaction of the stagehands in the form of dance and movement, gives the possibility to bring this play not only into a muItimedia level but also into divergent levels.

About ,,Feuerbach"

Feuerbach is the personified conflict of an independent and, at the same time, very dependent artist. He is an old actor, who has to suffer - as an emotional clown under society and its system. Feuerbach hopes to get the part with his audition monologue from Goethe's Tasso (IV, 5). lndeed, there are similarities between Dorst's Feuerbach, the actor, and Goethe's Tasso, the poet. Tasso has to suffer as a poor poet under an aristocratic society which has a charisma of being nearly ideal in itself. Both are experiencing a disproportionate balance of talent and life. The pathologic state of mind in which they are both located shows the tone and me reaction of a modern problem child, a neurotic person, someone who is very depressed and torn apart inside. People who carry these attributes are not fitting into society, especially 2Oth century society which floats on the surface of life.

Feuerbach and Tasso would readily give up their lives but never their desire for being creative. That is why neither of them get treated well because of the fact that they are not fitting in the system. This means that the system isn't able to handle them in a normal way because of their own ideals which are contradictory to those of society. That is why they fail in the system, not because they are unable, but because they are unpredictable under the rules of the system.

Feuerbach chose Tassos' monologue to audition with, and es Sartre says, ,,if you ask a person about something, you give yourself the answer by choosing the person you ask." That means that Feuerbach chose Tasso because he sees himself as Tasso, in a certain way. They are both „crazy" and full of fear.

R.M. Productions Cast Members

Biographies

Actors

Richard Reineccius
Plays the lead role, Feuerbach. He is Co-founder, Artistic Director and performer with The Julian Theater, begun in 1965 in San Francisco. He holds BA-MA degrees in theatre from San Francisco State University. Credits indude Hamlet, Macbeth as well as principal roles in independent Films for theatrical or television release. He has worked for the Califomia Arts Council and National Endowments for the Arts. Under the Sponsorship of the U.S. Information Agency, Richard directed at the Theater Lubuski in western Poland.

Christiane Jory
Is noted for her performances in, ,,The Comedy of Errors" and ,,Identity Crisis" in New York and ,,Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'“ in Paris. She is a graduate of NYU. Recently she has relocated to San Francisco.

Singer
Stephen Valentino
Works throughout Europe and the USA. His credits indude ,,La Boheme", ,,Die Fledermaus“, ,,Carmen“, ,,La Traviate“, ,,King Lear“ and.... He has also appeared on local, national
and international TV
(All music scores for the singer is done by composer Cody Gillette.)


Composer
Dan Gschwind
As a natural talent, he played Bach by ear at the age of 3. Mr. Gschwind, after receiving a 5 year classical education in music, he has played in several bands : fusion, jazz and rock. Presently he is composing music for different artists and groups in Munich, Germany. His first solo album is fresh off the press: "Stars Moon Fish" (1993)

Dancers
Stephanie Everett
Dances with Theresa Dickenson performing in free flying improvisational work. She has been living in the Bay Area for 5 years dancing and producing new works.


Julie Goodnough
Has been performing for 3 years in the Bay Area with Theresa Dickenson, Helen Dannenburg and Dancers, The Flying Under Dance Cornpany and others. Julie has also danced in
Washington D.C. and Seattle, Washington.

Ana Paula Hofling
Studied Ballet at age 6 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. For 3 years she performed with the City Ballet of Campinas in Brazil. Ana has danced with Bay Area Repertory Dance, Dance Brigade and is
presently working with Ellen Webb.

Lori 0. Lara
Received her BA with honors from San Diego State University and MA in Choreoghraphy and Performance from Mills College. She has performed through out the Bay Area and Southern California in theatre and concert dance works. Lori spent 1 year in England where she performed in
,,Theatre In the Mill".

Kristen Lemberg
Is a graduate trom Sarah Lawrence College, New York. Her
credits indude ,,The Beaux Stratagem" in London, and
,,Wilhelm Reich in Hell" in New York as weIl as concert dance
works in New York..

Director
Peter R. Glockner
Is an established director from Munich Germany. He has directed Hamlet, William Shakespeare at the Lyric Theater, London and in, Munich; Ube Rex, (Opera Penderecki, Assistant to Director August Everding) National Theater München, Munich; The Vernisate, Vaclav Havel, Pathos Transport Theatre, Munich: The Curve, Tankred Dorst, Pathos Transport Theatre, Munich; Rarmeaus Neffe, Denis Diderot, Pasinger Fabrik Theatre Munich; throughout Europe and in the USA. Peter wrote The Hoelderlin Project ,,Silence Echoes", which was the first collaboration with R.M. Productions. Because of its success, this project has been invited to the
Theatre Festival in Sao Paulo Brazil and to Poland.

Choreographer
Rudi A. Martinez
From the Bay Area lived in Japan for 1 1/2 years and is presently based in Munich, Germany where she founded R.M. Productions in 1985. She is the Artistic Director -Choreographer and Producer for the company which performs throughout Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and in the USA. Her work can be seen in all areas of the commercial and theatrical business (The Story Part II, Warner Bros. Production; 5th Annual International Dance Concert, Osaka, Japan; Contemporary Dance Company, Hong Kong; Warner Bros. Music International and others)

Sponsoring Companies
,R.M. Productions for 8 years has staged works which involve collaborations of artists from different countries as well as art forms. These cultural exchanges are the core of R.M.
Productions work.

The Julian Theatre for 28 years has produced plays from
every continent in San Francisco and on Tour. English
language prernieres of German or German-language plays
include Botho Strauss ,,The Hypochondriacs" and
,,Three Acts of Recognition", Friedrich Duerrenmatt's
,,The Accidant," and others.

Special Thanks
Joy and Jim: Peggy, Brad and Krista Lucchi, Dara Migliore: Randi and Bengt Kristoffersen-
Tornell: Angelika Beinhardt: Deanna and Jeff :Rudy, Arlene and Amie: Jack, Ernie and Kathy from
SOMAR: Kevin from Communications West: Theresa Dickenson: Wally and Fleeta -Lost Valley
Ranch Enterprises: The Julian Theatre: Ingrid Edgers, Goethe Institute: Pat and Alice Rincon from Jazz Unlimited: Ingrid Jost: Lori Sjollema: Clarke Parker: a personal note to Joy who has made all of this possible with her support and love.