Clurman Lab's 'MOTHER COURAGE', Set in German Beer Hall, Begins Tonight

The Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Company is transforming Studio G at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting into a German beer hall in this lively production of MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN by Bertolt Brecht and conceived by director John Gould Rubin, which will include live music as well as beer & sausages for purchase. Using a translation by Tony Kushner, the production will open tonight, January 28th, with performances running through February 20th.

MOTHER COURAGE was first performed in Zurich in 1941 and is usually seen as Brecht's greatest work. Remaining a powerful indictment of war and social injustice, it is an epic drama set in the seventeenth century during the Thirty Years' War.

"When John Gould Rubin described his vision for a production of Bertolt Brecht's MOTHER COURAGE to me, locating it in a German beer hall, beer and sausages for sale, actors doubling as the band, I found it characteristically playful, insightful, interactive and fun," says Artistic Director Tom Oppenheim. "Frivolity and inebriation as back drop to horrible human behavior. Pure Rubin! Pure Brecht! Lass uns einen Toast machen!!!"

"It's environmental, we're searching for a way to land the play on the audience in a way that feels at once more comfortable and more confrontational than the standard configuration in a theater," Director Rubin adds. "It allows us to alter the audience's expectations, prepare them in a unique way for the play and, I hope, inflict on them with an unexpectedly visceral experience."

The ensemble features Estelle Bajou*, Felix Birdie, Chuck Montgomery*, Sandra Tauro, David Tillistrand*, Franca Vercelloni*, Angela Vitale*, Katie Willmorth, and Tobias Christian Wong*

The production is designed by Andreea Mincic (Set), Chuan-Chi Chan (Lights), Sherry Martinez (Costumes) Brenna Palughi (Choreography), J. Steven White (Fight Direction), assistant directed by Nina Dingizian and stage managed by Mikenzie Ames.

MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Tony Kushner, will run January 28th - February 20th at Studio G at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Doors open at 7:00pm, Curtain at 7:30pm. Tickets: $18 Advance Reservations Online at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/953744. The Stella Adler Studio of Acting is located at 31 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001. More information at www.stellaadler.com.

Note: A limited number of "Pay-What-You-Can" Tickets are available at all performances at the box office one hour prior to curtain.

Established in 1949 by Stella Adler, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting was founded upon Adler's belief in the supreme seriousness of her art, and has, for the last five decades, enriched every part of the American theater and film arts. Adler's philosophies kept many well-known members of the theater coming back for her intelligent and passionate advice and the school has since trained many of the brilliant actors of our time, including Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro, Elaine Stritch, Benicio Del Toro and Salma Hayek. The Stella Adler Studio of Acting is a nonprofit organization, which trains over 600 actors annually and also presents world-class lectures, poetry readings, jazz, classical music, theater, and dance theater events. www.stellaadler.com

The Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Company is the Stella Adler Studio of Acting's/Art of Acting Studio's professional theater company. The Lab aims to produce socially relevant theater committed to the standards and ideals set out by Stella Adler, Harold Clurman and the Group Theater. The mission of the Lab is to provide the community, through theater and discussion, with a place of exploration and experimentation of what it means be a human being. Select production history: Mercy Killers by Michael Milligan (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013, Fringe First Award), Lebensraum by Israel Horovitz (off-Broadway, Ovation-Nominated in Los Angeles), Long Way Go Down by Zayd Dohrn (West Coast premiere, Ovation Award Nominee), Our Town by Thornton Wilder, What Shall I Give My Children? by Don K. Williams (world premiere).

* appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association. This is an Equity approved showcase.