by Bertolt Brecht Translated by Tony Kusher Original Music by Spencer Lemann Produced by Aeneid Theatre Company Venue: Non de Gen April 2019
On the bloodied, burned battlefields of Europe, the canteen woman Mother Courage pulls a cart, hawking her wares to anyone who will buy. As the machine of war rages on, she faces a choice no mother should make: her children or her future.
For this production, I sought to create a raw, hard rock theatrical experience that emphasized the relentless cycle of war and profiteering. I used bold visual symbolism and dynamic ensemble movement to bring the world of the play to life.
To highlight the verfremdungseffekt of Brecht’s work and drawing inspiration from Grotowski’s Poor Theatre, I came to the idea of a graveyard of objects — all the props from the show scattered around the stage. From this graveyard, Mother Courage builds her cart, the central symbol of the play as she literally drags it around with her through the piece. It is her livelihood, a manifestation of her character. The opening moment of the play saw Mother Courage and Kattrin built her cart from the bodies of dead soldiers so that she and her children are literally dragging around an objectified version of the war’s destruction. Whenever they use a prop, it is taken from the pockets of the dead. Her theft is literalized and constant. Each character emerges from the cart and then returns back to it. In some scenes, the cart becomes its own character, helping some, fighting others, and saying lines.
The ensemble of the world is the cart.
For the music, I worked with a composer to create a score inspired by heavy metal and punk rock to further alienate the audience and bring an industrial, unfiltered energy to the production. Played live by a four-piece band, the music was integrated with a soundscape of sreeching metal and thudding machines.
Collaboration was at the heart of this production, from the physical exploration of the cart’s movement to the development of character dynamics rooted in power, gender, and survival. My goal was to create a production that was unflinching, urgent, and deeply theatrical—a show that grabbed the audience and forced them to confront their own complicity in the machinery of war.
Production Stage Manager: Arturo Fernandez Jr Music Director: Cyrus Leland Assistant Director/Costume Design: Amrit Singh Producers: Ashley Busenlener & Tata Vivas Production Manager: Erin Sweeney Sound Design: Naveen Bhatia Lighting Design: Milner Sommers Set Design: Lindsey Lent Assistant Set Design/Props Master: Kinsey Bluestein Make-up Design: Riley Cole Dramaturg: Jess Doherty
Cast: Ashley Busenlener, Kelia Broderick, Evan Wank, Nirvan Patnaik, Sarah Kirby, Ian Melamed, Mikey Takla, Stella Grimaldi, Delaney Powell, Clare Girnus, Alexander Panagos, Katherine Montes, Lina Goggins-Rendón, Katie Newsom, and Maxwell Woehermann
Band: Owen Boxwell, Carter Boyle, and Brian Grabin
