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			Thursday, January 23, 2003, 7 p.m.
	Scene in the Eldorado nightclub in Berlin, circa 1929–1930. Schwules Museum [Gay Museum], Berlin. #01672		Admission is free for all programs, but reservations are required. Call 202.488.0407. With the establishment of the Weimar Republic following Germany's defeat in World War I, old, oppressive restrictions gave way to a new spirit of social tolerance and creative exploration in the performing arts. This spirit was particularly evident in Berlin, where satirical cabarets and gay locales emerged as notorious haunts of the avant–garde. In this lecture and music demonstration, Alan Lareau highlights the cultural scene in Germany before the Nazis seized power, focusing on the Berlin cabaret culture, the presentation of sexuality in popular and literary songs of the time, and the fates of several homosexual men and lesbian artists of that era who were later persecuted under the Third Reich. The presentation includes slides, historical recordings, and live song performances from the Weimar cabaret era—delivered in English—by actor and playwright Jeremy Lawrence, accompanied by Howard Breitbart on the piano.
			Alan Lareau is an associate professor of German at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh and author of The Wild Stage: Literary Cabarets of the Weimar Republic (1995). He is also co#150;producer of a series of CDs featuring historical cabaret recordings from Germany that include programs of Mischa Spoliansky and Friedrich Hollaender as well as a forthcoming CD on Greta Keller.
			Jeremy Lawrence is an accomplished theater artist who has been seen on stage and television throughout the United States and whose plays and adaptations have been performed in this country and abroad. Based in Los Angeles, Mr. Lawrence is performing in Lament for the Moths, a compendium of Tennessee Williams poetry, and his own one-man Tennessee Williams show, Talking Tennessee. His most-performed piece, Cabaret Verboten, a collection of songs and sketches from the cabarets of Weimar Germany, has been produced by several theater companies nationwide. He also provided the English lyrics for Ute Lemper's CD Berlin Cabaret Songs.
	Three unique public programs relating to the special exhibition		LAVENDER SONGS: WEIMAR CABARET AND BEYOND     COMING INTO FOCUS: FILMMAKERS DEPICT THE EXPERIENCES OF HOMOSEXUAL VICTIMS OF THE NAZI ERA     "SO I STOOD ALONE WITH MY MEMORIES ..." THE MEN WITH THE PINK TRIANGLE, 1945–2003 This program series is made possible by a gift from The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.
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