America Day: FAMILY MATTERS. Life in two worlds
City Library: A reading evening with author Martina J. Kohl and actor Jerry Marwig, 12 May, 6 p.m., TIETZ event hall
On Friday 12 May at 6 pm, interested parties are invited to a reading evening with author Martina J. Kohl and actor Jerry Marwig in the TIETZ event hall to mark America Day.
Admission is free of charge.
FAMILY MATTERS follows in the footsteps of a German family that has been travelling across the Atlantic in both directions for four generations. Like Elizabeth and Little Henry, who have to leave their beloved New York at the beginning of the 20th century and return to their old homeland; the violinist Clara, who can only fulfil her vocation in the America of the suffragettes; the "war bride" Toni, who bravely follows a G.I. to Nebraska after the Second World War; and finally the student Iris, who tries to find her place in both worlds in the 1980s. In retrospect, they all ask themselves the question "What if?", which runs like a thread through the narrative. What if they hadn't gone to America or back to their old homeland, fallen in love or taken a different path with more courage?
FAMILY MATTERS detaches simple yet memorable characters from the yellowing pictures in the photo albums, gives them a voice and places them in their own time. Martina J. Kohl brings the past to life. She shows that today cannot be understood without yesterday. And that migration, uprooting and the search for belonging are universal themes.
Martina J. Kohl spent many years designing and organising events in the cultural department of the American Embassy in Berlin. Her favourite programmes were the literary events she organised together with the English Theatre Berlin/International Performing Arts Center, which gave well-known and new American talents a stage. She has been able to incorporate writing into her teaching ever since she began working at the University of Michigan. She regularly teaches American Studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin and was co-editor of the American Studies Journal. As a member of the advisory board of the Salzburg Global American Studies Program, the transatlantic dialogue continues to be a matter close to her heart. In addition to her academic publications, FAMILY MATTERS is her first book of fiction. She lives with her family in Berlin.
American-born Jerry Marwig is an actor, singer, producer, writer and translator. He studied at the Hamburg Stage School of Music, Dance and Drama and was already on stage in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". He played Brad in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and Cliff Bradshaw in "Cabaret", appeared in "Forever Plaid" and "Grease", "Mamma Mia" (Sam) in Stuttgart, Berlin and Oberhausen and "Ich war noch niemals in New York" (lead role) in Hamburg. Jerry Marwig has appeared in TV series such as "Großstadtrevier", "Unter Uns" and "Rettungsflieger". At the Bad Hersfeld Festival, he was Orsino in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" and Count Paris in "Romeo and Juliet" (directed by Volker Lechtenbrink). In Feuchtwangen, he played in "The Name of the Rose" (William of Baskerville) and "My Fair Lady" (Professor Higgins) and in Frankfurt in Daniel Glattauer's "Die Wunderübung" alongside Anja Kruse. He brought the German premiere of the musical "The Story of My Life" to the stage at Fürth City Theatre (actor, producer and translator with Thomas Borchert). Until February 2023, he was part of the award-winning Berlin production "KuDamm'56" (Fritz Assmann) at the Theater des Westens. When he is not on stage, Jerry writes or records audio books.
Source: Publisher PalmArtPress Berlin for the German and English edition of FAMILY MATTERS (2023)