As far as theater goes, German Expressionism is not exactly our cup of tea. It's just so... morose.

Take Ernst Toller, one of the most-known Expressionist playwrights. His most famous work, "Hoppla, We're Alive!" deals with a failed revolutionary who spends time in a mental institution, recognizes his life's failure, and then kills himself. Meh.

And how did Toller come up with such a macabre play? It was based on his own life. That's right, Ernst Toller, playwright, once took part in what he called the "Bavarian Revolution of Love". He even became the president of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919... for a total of six days.

To say that his reign (of love?) was ineffective would be an understatement. After those six days, the communists took over, and Toller ended up in jail (better than the alternative that met many of his cohorts). There, he turned to his first love, Expressionism.

How did it all end for Toller? He was freed in 1925, exiled by the Nazis for being Jewish in 1933, and, yes, killed himself in 1939.

Perhaps German Expressionism shouldn't have been his cup of tea, either.