Christopher Walken to Star with Streep in Mother Courage

By: Jun. 30, 2006
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Joining previously announced two-time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep in the highly anticipated Delacorte Theatre production of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage will be Christopher Walken. The show, presented by the Public Theater, will run from August 8th through September 3rd in Central Park.

The show will be directed by Tony Award-winner George C. Wolfe. Pulitzer Prize-winner Tony Kushner (Angels in America) has written a new adaptation of the classic drama of war, commerce and family. The production will feature original music by Jeanine Tesori, with whom Kushner penned Caroline, or Change.

I"n Brecht's seminal work we follow Mother Courage over a period of 12 years as one by one her children Kattrin, Eilif and Swiss Cheese are taken away by a vicious war. As Mother Courage seeks to profit from the war that is killing her children, she questions the roles of honesty, virtue and family in the face of a bitter struggle for survival," state press notes.

Mother Courage and Her Children will be the final production of Shakespeare in the Park 2006 and The Public's year-long 50th Anniversary celebration. Artistic Director Oskar Eustis stated "This summer's shows in the park are a perfect manifestation of what The Public Theater stands for: our nation's greatest actors performing the world's greatest plays under the direction of thrilling and boundary-breaking directors free for the people. The fact that both of these magnificent classics speak to a world at war is a powerful reminder of how, in the hands of remarkable artists, great plays of the past can speak to the state of the nation better than any politician."

Walken--who will play the steadfast Cook in the show--won an Oscar for his role in The Deer Hunter, and was nominated for his turn in Catch Me If You Can. He has made dozens of screen appearances, including Wedding Crashers, Sleepy Hollow, Pulp Fiction, Wayne's World 2, Pennies from Heaven and Annie Hall. A stage veteran, he received a Tony nomination for James Joyce's The Dead, while other Broadway credits include Hurlyburly, Sweet Bird of Youth and The Merchant of Venice. He and Streep previously co-starred in the Public Theater's starry Central Park production of The Seagull.

Visit www.publictheater.com for more information.








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