Progress: An Experiment in Historiography and Environmental Theater

Abstract

The author presents two essays: "Women's Reproductive Rights in Nazi Germany : Mothers, 'Degenerates' and the State," and "Designing 'Progress' : Hitting the Books, Dipping the Brushes, Screwing the Bolts." The first essay describes the dramatic impact that the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party had on German feminism and reproductive rights. The author analyzes the legislation and propganda of the era. The second essay describes the process of conceptualizing and designing the sets for a short theater piece based on the author's history research. A 1930s era German doctor meets a series of female patients receiving pre-natal care, a post-surgey check-up, and sterilization.