SENIOR YOUTH REPERTORY COMPANY 

Mother Courage and Her Children
By Bertolt Brecht

New Hampshire Theatre Project’s Senior Youth Repertory Company will present Bertolt Brecht’s epic masterpiece Mother Courage & Her Children on May 16-25 at 959 Islington Street in Portsmouth. In a new translation by John Willett, Mother Courage presents one of Brecht’s most human and complex central characters.  This “chronicle play of the Thirty Years War” focuses on all the costs of war, and how our most personal choices play out in the complicated economy of wartime.  As one character shrewdly observes: “Like the war to nourish you?  Have to feed it something too.”

Director Genevieve Aichele and the Youth Repertory Company have spent the past six months exploring the history and techniques of Brechtian theatre, with workshops by Boston actor Dev Luthra and guest lecturer Lori Hopkins from the University of New Hampshire. Composer Agnes Charlesworth of Kittery is creating original music for Mother Courage and Dr. Paul Mroczka of Plymouth State University will orchestrate a percussion ensemble.  The character of Mother Courage herself will be played by three different Youth Repertory actors:  Jes Marbacher of Stratham, NH; Lauren Thompson of Bradford, MA; and Helen Sturgis-Bright of York, ME.

Associate Director Meghann Beauchamp will design the urban landscape set, with lighting design by Jacob Moses, costume design by Kathy Mason, and sound design and composition assisted by intern Skyler Clark-Hamel of York High School.  Stage manager is Liz Krane.