Columbia Professor of English and Comparative Literature James Shapiro will give the Gerhard Casper Lecture, entitled "Theater, Democracy, and the Making of an American Culture War," on February 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the American Academy in Berlin.  The Federal Theater, established in the depths of the Great Depression, employed over 10,000 out-of-work actors, and staged productions seen by more than 25 million Americans between 1935 and 1939, the year that the first House Un-American Committee targeted the Theater's plays as "un-American."  This fateful accusation was the opening salvo in America's culture wars.  To register, visit the American Academy website at www.americanacademy.de/event/theater-democracy-and-the-making-of-an-american-culture-war.