Creativity and Stress: A Cambridge Forum Event

As part of Cambridge Forum's Spring series "How We Live Now," actors from the Underground Railway Theater read a selection from But the Giraffe!, the curtain-raiser Tony Kushner wrote for the Broadway revival of Brundibár. 

A panel discussion follows about the relationship between stress and creativity. Does creativity help people cope with stress? How does stress stimulate or impede creativity? 

Brundibár is a children's opera by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása with a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister, originally performed by the children of Theresienstadt concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. In 2003, the opera was adapted into a picture book by Tony Kushner with illustrations by Maurice Sendak. The book was named one of the New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Illustrated Books of 2003.

In 2005, the book was turned into a full production of the opera, with libretto by Tony Kushner adapted from Hoffmeister's and Sendak designing the sets for the new production. The opera then moved to the New Victory Theatre for its Off-Broadway New York premiere, and a new Kushner play, But the Giraffe. But the Giraffe was about a young girl who was faced with the difficult decision of taking her beloved stuffed giraffe or her uncle's Brundibár score. It served as a curtain-raiser for Brundibár.

This is a ticketed program. $5 (Members) and $10 (General Admission). Call 617-495-2727 to reserve your tickets.