The Segal Center presents a reading of the first English translation of Carl Credé’s 1929 play Gequälte Menschen (Tortured Humans) by American translator Emily Elizabeth Gasda. Credé’s drama, first directed by Erwin Piscator, explores how a national abortion ban in pre-fascist Germany destroys a working-class family. The reading will be directed by Carey Perloff. A discussion and reception will follow the reading.
*This event is generously supported by Louise Kerz Hirschfeld.
Cast (in alphabetical order): Sam Adams, Ari Brand, Neal Huff, Eva Kaminsky, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Lakeisha May, Joshua Robinson, Thom Sesma, Julyana Soelistyo, and David Strathairn.
Carey Perloff is a director, writer, producer, and educator who recently completed an acclaimed 25-year tenure as artistic director of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco (1992 to 2018). The youngest person ever chosen to lead a LORT theater, Perloff oversaw the rebuilding of the Geary Theater and the creation of A.C.T.’s second stage (The Strand); reanimated ACT’s educational programs; and created decades of vigorous, culturally diverse programming with an international focus. Prior to A.C.T., Perloff ran CSC Repertory where she staged the world premiere of Ezra Pound’s Elektra and won an Obie for Excellence. Noted for her collaborations with Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter, Perloff is also a playwright; her work has been produced across the country and in Paris. She’s the author of Beautiful Chaos: A Life in the Theater (City Lights Press 2015) and Pinter and Stoppard: A Director’s View (Bloomsbury Methuen 2022), was awarded a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government and several Honorary Doctorates. B.A., Classics and Comparative Literature, Phi Beta Kappa, Stanford, Fulbright Fellowship to Oxford University. She continues to direct around the world, most recently at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
Emily Elizabeth Gasda studied German Literature at Boston University and has lived and traveled widely in the German-speaking realm. She will be publishing an account of her recent travels in Sicily and otherwise enjoys writing songs, sewing clothing, and farming.
Louise Kerz Hirschfeld retired in May 2015 as President of The Al Hirschfeld Foundation, which honors her late husband and his art. Mrs. Kerz Hirschfeld while president oversaw exhibitions, supervised publications, directed educational programs, and spearheaded philanthropic endeavors. Other key exhibitions under her charge include “Al Hirschfeld: A Celebration of Hollywood and Broadway” at the Huntsville Museum of Art; “Brits on Broadway” at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum; “Hirschfeld on Tennessee Williams,” a centenary exhibition in New Orleans; and “Hirschfeld’s Hollywood” at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. One of the most exciting and rewarding ventures she pioneered under the Foundation’s continuing guidance is a collaboration with the NYC Board of Education to produce The Al Hirschfeld Project, a curriculum for teaching the arts in the city’s public schools. During her earlier career as a theatre historian, she organized and created many exhibits such as “The Theatre of Max Reinhardt” and “The Demille Dynasty” as well as worked in television production as a research consultant for major networks, museums and award winning producers. Mrs. Kerz Hirschfeld work as a photographer was exhibited at New York’s Leica Gallery. In collaboration with her then- Foundation co-chair, Arthur Gelb of The New York Times, as well as producer Rocco Landesman, she was instrumental in re-naming of the Martin Beck Theatre to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. She was a Tony Award nominator for three years and served on the board of Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center. She and her husband Lewis B. Cullman were designated as New York City Living Landmarks in 2012.
