The Wooster Group's THE MOTHER to Play Return Engagement February 2022

Following a sold-out run this fall, The Wooster Group's new production of Bertolt Brecht's The Mother, directed by Elizabeth LeCompte, will return to New York for a special limited engagement. Performances will run February 18 to March 12, 2022, at The Performing Garage (33 Wooster Street).

Brecht wrote The Mother in the style of a "learning play," intended both to entertain and to incite social change. With clear, plainspoken language and songs, the play tells the story of an uneducated Russian woman's journey to revolutionary action. "The aim was to teach certain forms of political struggle to the audience. It was addressed mainly to women. About 15,000 Berlin working-class women saw the play" (Brecht, Schriften zum Theater, 1933).

Embracing Brecht's ideas for "learning plays," The Wooster Group's modern American interpretation of The Mother takes a simple, direct approach to the text and incorporates new music by composer Amir ElSaffar. It is the Group's first staging of Brecht, resulting in a dialogue of two influential experimental methods.

The Wooster Group's production of The Mother is composed by the Group, directed by Elizabeth LeCompte and features performances by Jim Fletcher, Ari Fliakos, Gareth Hobbs, Erin Mullin, and Kate Valk as Pelagea, The Mother. The sound design and music arrangement is by Eric Sluyter, the video design is by Irfan Brkovic, and the lighting design is by David Sexton. Musician and composer Amir ElSaffar, who works across classical, jazz, and Arabic musical forms, has provided new music for the piece. (The play's original music was written by Hanns Eisler).

The full company for The Mother includes Hai-Ting Chinn (vocal music director), Erin Mullin (stage manager), Michaela Murphy (assistant director & prop construction), Joseph Silovsky (set construction), David Glista (technical director at The Performing Garage), Bona Lee (production manager), Monika Wunderer (business director), and Cynthia Hedstrom (producer).

Music by Amir ElSaffar is commissioned by The Wooster Group with funds from New York State Council on the Arts and New Music USA (made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Helen F. Whitaker Fund, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Howard Gilman Foundation, Anonymous).

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

The Wooster Group
Bertolt Brecht
The Mother (A Learning Play)
Feb 18 - 19, 22 - 26, Mar 1 - 5, 8 - 12
Tuesdays - Fridays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 3:00 and 7:30 pm.
The Performing Garage, 33 Wooster St, New York, NY 10013
Tickets: $30 - $40, available at www.thewoostergroup.org or (212) 966-3651

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