Famous actor and activist come to VCDF

Jackson Reeves Assistant Arts Editor

Theodore Bikel is adamant about countering political apathy, something that he will discuss with Tamara Brooks during his visit to Vassar Campus. Broadway actor and folk singer Bikel and conductor Brooks come to Vassar on Feb. 12 for a week of activist lectures, discussions on and musical performances, entitled “The Arts as a Bridge to Peace.”

After living in Nazi-occupied Austria and witnessing the cruelties imposed upon Jews and other marginalized peoples, Bikel developed an activist’s resolve to defend those who could not defend themselves. Bikel thus cites his experience with the Nazis as the source of his activist outlook and his outrage at political apathy.

After he went on to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, this experience continued to influence him.

When he played Captain Von Trapp in the original Broadway production of “The Sound of Music,” Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote his character’s signature song, “Edelweiss,” specifically for Bikel because of his activist leanings.

Bikel has since traveled the world singing Jewish and gypsy folk songs. He is also currently president of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America.

Bikel has worked to preserve the Yiddish language, and Jewish culture more generally, throughout his singing career. He has served a leading role on the National Foundation for Jewish Culture in the United States. Brooks spent time in the ’70s bringing together Greek and Turkish musicians from Cyprus through music festivals. They are both part of a quartet composed of four activists for peace from different national backgrounds called Serendipity 4. Their international songs of peace have helped to encourage understanding between groups in conflict.

“Music is both an expression of strife and a weapon, sometimes, to combat strife and misunderstanding,” said Bikel in a telephone interview last Thursday. “Sometimes a song paints a painful reality, and it does it in a way that makes people aware of the pain. And that is already the first step toward activism.”

Joining Bikel is Brooks, a composer who grew up in America during World War II. The trials of the war forced her to confront her Jewish and gypsy heritage—influencing her to take an activist perspective.
Brooks studied at the Julliard School of Music and subsequently traveled the world as a classical pianist and conductor. She uses her knowledge of music and her interest in its power to uplift and affect people on a visceral level.

“Music plays a vital part in how people are informed and how they respond to what are dreadful issues of human rights,” said Brooks.

“Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the students on this campus won’t know who [Bikel] is before he arrives,” said Director for Development of Principal Gifts Jennifer Dahnert, “but after he’s been here for a week, they’ll know that they’ve touched a legend.”

Before Bikel and Brooks arrive on campus, the film department will screen two films starring Bikel. The Defiant Ones, screening on Feb. 8 at 7 p.m., explores race relations in the American South and earned Bikel an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film will be screened in the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film (VCDF).

Then, the Dutch documentary Bridge to Peace will be screened on Feb. 12 at 5 p.m. in the VCDF. The documentary follows the artists as well as musicians from the Mostar Sinfonietta orchestra during their concert tour of Poland in 2005.

Brooks explained, that “The film is meant to provoke questions about how we understand each other,” and Bikel added, “Or do not understand.” “Whether there is any possibility we can understand each other,” Brooks concluded.

“The Artist as Activist” discussion will welcome students and Poughkeepsie residents to interact with Bikel and Brooks. The dialogue will analyze the arts and their ability to purvey information of all forms. Bikel and Brooks will discuss their experiences as musicians expressing through song the complexities of life, culture and humanity in ways that only the arts enable. This discussion will take place on Feb. 14 at 5 p.m. on the second floor of the Students’ Building.

The two artists will conclude their residency by performing folk songs from Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Greek, Bosnian and gypsy traditions at “An Afternoon with Theodore Bikel and Tamara Brooks: Stories and Songs from around the World” on Feb. 17 at 3:30 p.m. in the VCDF. The selection of songs will range in topic from death to love and may include a rendition of “Edelweiss.”