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 Dramaturg's Notes:

Physician, philosopher, and radical Georg Büchner was born Oct. 17, 1813 during the Battle of Leipzig, the beginning of Napoleon's downfall. Within his short life, he witnessed a number of local German revolts inspired by the July Revolution in France, and in reaction, strong repression by the German Confederation. Büchner's first publication, a revolutionary pamphlet, endangered but did not end his work in zoology and philosophy; in fact it fueled his first play, Danton's Death.  

Written for a comedy competition (for which it missed the deadline) in 1836, Leonce und Lena would not be published or performed within Büchner's lifetime. In fact, in 1895, it was still the first of his plays to see the stage. Noted as a forerunner of theatrical absurdism, Leonce und Lena draws upon commedia dell' arte while satirizing conventional literature and statecraft.  

Büchner would never finish his other two plays (one lost completely, one, Woyzeck, surviving in fragments), or live to publish most essays or his novella, Lenz. In a friend's words, he "worked himself smilingly to death" of typhus at the age of 23. Though his work was slow to gain notoriety, it's nonetheless now recognized as a vital bridge between romantic naturalism and modern drama. Lauded by Rilke and Brecht, Büchner's works "have influenced almost every form of theater our century has created."

-Jennifer Shook, Dramaturg		   PHOTOS
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Photos by Margaret Lakin, Artwork by Roz Francis