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Playbill for Gerhart Hauptmann’s Before Daybreak [Vor Sonnenaufgang] (October 20, 1889)
Facsimile of the playbill from Gerhart Hauptmann’s “social drama” Before Daybreak [Vor Sonnenaufgang]. Hauptmann’s naturalist work was one of the first productions staged by the Free Stage Association; it caused a sensation on opening night in October 1889. The play corresponded with Hauptmann’s observation that “writers are the tears of history.”