BICA School Lab | 30 Essex Street
Open to All | Free to Join | No Registration Required

Join us at BICA School for a casual, come-as-you-are reading group that welcomes everyone—whether you've read the text cover to cover or just want to hear what others have to say. We'll explore critical and curious texts together in a space that values open conversation, listening, and learning.

Read ahead if you can, but there's no pressure to be an expert—bring your thoughts, questions, and curiosity.

→ Brecht, Bertolt. The Threepenny Opera. 1928.

What happens when you make crime as charming as it actually is?
Brecht's musical follows a gangster, a corrupt police chief, and a cast of thieves and sex workers through a version of Victorian London that looks suspiciously like Weimar Germany. The songs are catchy. The morals are nonexistent. That's the point. Brecht wanted audiences to enjoy the show and feel uneasy about enjoying it—a deliberate jolt meant to keep people thinking rather than just feeling. It's an early, vivid example of his theory of "epic theater," where the goal isn't to lose yourself in the story but to stay sharp enough to question it. A lively read for anyone curious about how art can entertain and unsettle at the same time, and what theater owes to the world outside the theater.