Drinking Brecht: An Automated Laboratory Performance

After stealing a hat from the costume collection of famous communist playwright Bertolt Brecht, multimedia artist sister sylvester embarks on a forensic quest to trace the hat’s possible past wearers. Paying homage to Brecht’s “scientific theater,” which endeavored to spark revolution, Drinking Brecht is an innovative interactive documentary using microbiology and genetics to merge past and present.

“A documentary that you can drink, the work ingests worn-out scientific narratives and turns them into a marxist-feminist ritual, and a celebration of science for the people.” —sister sylvester

Premiered at IDFA 2024. Previous versions of the work in development have been performed at Joe’s Pub, Prelude Festival, UCCS and MAX Festival.

Produced by sister sylvester
Co-Produced by Onassis ONX
Co-Commissioned by IDFA Doc Lab
Written, Directed and Narrated by sister sylvester
Score and Experiment Narration by DM R
Percussion by Ellery Trafford
Audio Mixing by Murat Çolak
Color Grading by Nathan Saucier
Installation Design by sister sylvester and Tjip Telman
Programming for Lighting by Ahmet Kizilay
Dramaturgy by Andrew Kircher
Additional Fly Cinematography by Sophia Lisco, Rachel Ganz, Morgan Harrison, Pere Jaeger.
Project Manager Marin Day

Microscope Sponsor: Dinolite

Run time: 60 minutes

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Host or Publisher Colorado College Theatre and Dance Department