In Reference over Time an actress is rehearsing an interpretation of Bertolt Brecht's 1940s text "Conversation Among Refugees". The text that Brecht wrote in exile features two men sitting in a restaurant in the station in Helsingfor (Norway) talking about politics. They both have lost their status as citizens. As refugees, conversation has become their main occupation. Made in 2004 in the political climate of the United States where the proposed Patriot 2 legislation proposes to give the state the right to take away citizenship, the actress struggles to find the right tone for the words exchanged in a 1940s Europe. Readdressing Brecht's thoughts expressed in his original text challenges and complicates the recognition of reoccurring patterns in history.

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