UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 20, Page 6
February 20, 1992
German activist/director in residence at the University

     Heinz-Uwe Haus, a political advocate of the unification of
Germany and noted theatre director, is working with the University
of Delaware's Professional Theatre Training Program this month as
it prepares to present Bertolt Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle.
     Haus also is a driving force behind the University's
International Bertolt Brecht Symposium, scheduled for Feb. 27-March
1.
     Haus has more than two decades of experience as one of the
foremost interpreters of Brecht. A native of what was East Berlin,
he worked there first at the famous Deutsches Theatre as a director
and later became the founding director of the Institute for Theatre
Directing.
     Except for a few opportunities to guest-direct stage
performances in the Federal Republic of Germany, he was denied a
work permit there until the fall of 1989.
     His productions of Brecht, Shakespeare, German and ancient
Greek classics in Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Italy and the U.S. have
earned him an international reputation.
     He is the founder of the International Theatre Workshop of
Ancient Greek Drama and since 1988 has served as artistic director
of the International Classical Theatre (ICT) in New York.
     He has been a guest professor at the University of Delaware,
Villanova, NYU, Kenyon College, Bowling Green and the University of
Kansas.
     As a political activist in his homeland, he was a member of
the steering committee of the party Democratic Awakening
(Demokratischer Aufbruch); has chaired the group Europapolitik and
founded the German-American coalition The Praxis Group.
     In November, Haus published an essay in the Rocky Mountain
Review of Language and Literature reflecting his hopes and
frustrations on the changes in Germany in recent years. The essay
is entitled "East Germany Since Nov. 9, 1989" and in it he wrote:
     "For me there is no doubt that the past few months have been
the happiest of my social and political life. The mounting struggle
and the ultimate success in changing the almost unchangeable have
turned damage and pain into a strength and courage which I had long
considered impossible. But enthusiasm can overwhelm the senses and
mar the view. Since the unification, the newly found freedoms often
totter instead of racing forward. They present new challenges
daily, which sometimes overwhelm us.
     "Can justice reign when yesterday's criminals move into
Parliament, direct banks, and lead businesses? Through they may
pose no serious danger to the bulk of society, they nontheless
represent an unacceptable mafia which still demands tribute. Did we
struggle for this?
     "Before fear was calculable. We called it 'Stasi,' 'SED,'
'Informants' or 'Searches.' Fear wore boots and was armed to the
teeth. Today fear walks quietly on crepe soles. It claims no
address and it has learned democratic etiquette. But fear is here,
omnipresent and unpredictable. It is the fear of unemployment or
social decline, the fear of losing a house or apartment as a result
of old proprietary claims. The stifling, permanent fear of the
'octopus' GDR is here once more, inhibiting us from fully
experiencing true freedom. Material freedom is, after all, only a
substitute.
     "Despite the obstacles, I have resolved to return to Berlin to
make a new beginning. I write these words in the United States
where I have lived and worked for many years, and where I was
pleased to find viable, reachable opportunities within the realm of
reality."
     Haus will speak at the Brecht Symposium on Friday, Feb. 28, in
a roundtable discussion from 1:45-4:30 p.m. in Room 119 Clayton
Hall. His production of Caucasian Chalk Circle runs weekends from
Feb. 21 through March 1.
     For tickets or more information on the play, call the Mitchell
Hall box office at 831-2204.
                                        - Beth Thomas