Help Fund Benjamin's MFA Thesis Production

Hi! I'm Benjamin Viertel and I'm a theatre and film director fundraising for my Columbia University MFA Directing Thesis production of THE THREEPENNY OPERA by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill!

HOW IT STARTED

I fell in love with Bertolt Brecht in 2005, freshman year of high school, during a theater history and literature course. As part of that course, I had to present a monologue from one of Brecht's plays. I chose Peachum's famous beggar monologue from The Threepenny Opera. My passion for Brecht coincided with my falling in love with directing. The first play I directed was Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children, at 17 years old. I've gone on to work on Brecht's St. Joan of the Stockyards, The Seven Deadly Sins, and Good Person of Setzuan (twice)! Heiner Muller's production of Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at The Berliner Ensemble changed my life forever and is the production I cite most often as having had the largest impact on my directing inspirations.

After being a freelance director in New York City for 10 years having directed off-Broadway, regionally, and on-camera, I returned to graduate school, at Columbia University, to study with renowned and brilliant directors Anne Bogart, Brian Kulick, and Katie Mitchell. Going back to school was one of the BEST decisions I’ve ever made.

HOW’S IT GOING

When it was time to pick a thesis production, I decided to follow my heart and my gut. I wanted to pick a play that both showed where I’ve come from and where I’m going as a director. The Threepenny Opera is a show that will both challenge me and show off what I do best. What I love about The Threepenny Opera is that even though the original material was written in 1928, it is incredibly contemporary and I’m excited to be working with Leah Plante-Wiener on a text adaptation and with Nate Weida on new orchestrations. I’m so excited by the amazing designs we’re coming up with and we’ll be dropping sneak previews all month long on this page!

WHAT I'M FUNDRAISING

Our fundraising campaign is focused on raising funds to compensate the artists that will make this production possible. I am determined to find the funds necessary so that every artist who joins my thesis production is being paid for their time and that everyone is being paid equitably.

Meeting our fundraising goal will ensure that every artist will be paid a $500 stipend. The actors I am planning on bringing onto this production will be multi-talented artists who also play instruments and will be our onstage band, and these artists should be compensated for the time and efforts they are lending to our production’s success.

AMOUNT

$5500 = 11 actors/musicians at $500/each

$500 = Production Support Fees (Marketing, Transportation, Rights, Contingency, etc.)

Total: $6000

Columbia budgeted and has given us $8000 for designer stipends and materials for our design departments. All I need to raise is money to pay the actors!

I NEED YOUR HELP

To make this production a huge success and help me launch my career as a director, can you help me with a donation of any amount?

$1?

$10?

$25?

$100?

$500?

$1000?

No donation too small or too large!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!