Spring Break Takes MC Contingent to Berlin
Release Date: March 21, 2002
Eleven Monmouth College students and faculty went to Berlin, Germany
for spring break, where they had the unique opportunity to view a play that had just been
performed on campus the month before.
Pictured are the
faculty, friends and students who took a trip to Berlin over spring break. The
photo is taken in front of the mausoleum at Charlottenburg Palace, resting place
of Queen Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm II, King of Prussia. Front row (L-R): Carla
Markwart, Marilyn Kloeppel. Second row (L-R) Sandy Wallace, David Ehrenhart, Bill
Urban. Third Row (L-R) Bill Wallace, Tom Hill, Vicki Kunz, Dick Kieft. Back Row
(L-R) Doug Rankin, Phil Johnson.
| The trip was
organized by Doug Rankin, an associate professor in the theater department, and Mathias
Betyna for the theater students who were in the February production of Bertolt Brecht’s
“A Respectable Wedding.” While in Berlin,
the group saw the same play performed at the Berliner Ensemble, the theater organized by
Brecht. Betyna was to have directed the play at Monmouth, but when he encountered
difficulties in obtaining a visa (since 9-11, everything has become harder and slower),
theater department lecturer Don Elwell jumped into the gap at the last minute. Betyna
met the group in Berlin and took the group to sites associated with Brecht.
Three of the students on the trip - Tom Hill, a sophomore from
Chicago; Phil Johnson, a freshman from Crystal Lake; and Vicki Kunz, a senior from Lake
in the Hills - were involved in the play. Another, David Ehrenhart, a freshman from
Springfield, had studied German. |
“It was a long trip, but once we got there, it was worth every
minute,” said Kunz.
Ehrenhart agreed, saying, “The trip gave me a chance to be immersed in
the culture of another country and also held special importance to me because of my German
ancestry. To have seen a city so full of history and yet so geared toward the future is
something that I will never forget. I would recommend that anyone take any chance available to
them to travel abroad because I believe that the experience shows how different countries deal
with the scars of the past as they prepare for the unknown future.”
History professor Bill Urban, who knows Berlin well from his annual
visits, brought a somewhat wider focus to the group activities, especially museum visits,
dining and travel. Other participants were chemistry professor Dick Kieft, art lecturer Carla
Markwart, theater professor Bill Wallace and his wife, Sandy, and Marilyn Kloeppel.
Released
by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330
|
