The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey presents
an exciting reading of
Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of Szechwan
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s new play reading series—Lend Us Your Ears—continues with The Good Woman of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Eric Bentley.
WHEN: Monday, October 4, at 7:30 PM WHERE: The Shakespeare Theatre’s Main Stage, the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Ave. (at Lancaster Road) in Madison.
TICKETS: $15 for adults; $10 for students. For tickets or more information, call the box office at 973.408.5600 or visit http://www.shakespearenj.org/.
Written in 1948 by Bertolt Brecht, one of the giants of the modern theater and the author of The Three Penny Opera and Mother Courage and Her Children among others, The Good Woman of Szechwan is an enchanting parable. The gods have agreed to let the world continue as it is if they can find one good person, and they find one in Shen Te, a young prostitute. With the gods' generous reward, Shen Te tries to lead a decent life, but her compassion for her friends and neighbors causes her downfall. Only with the help of her hard-hearted "cousin"—who appears mysteriously out of nowhere—is she able to save herself.
The cast includes company members from Manhattan's prestigious Pan Asian Rep, Ma-Yi Theatre Company and NAATCO (National Asian American Theatre company) as well as Shakespeare Theatre veteran actors including Joel de la Fuente who currently appears in a recurring role in Law & Order: SVU; Richard Bourg, Jay Leibowitz, Andy Paterson, Maureen Sebastian, Tina Stafford, Raphael Nash Thompson, and Patrick Toon. Newcomers to The Shakespeare Theatre include Wai Ching Ho, Jason Ma, Les Mau, Ching Valdes-Aran, and Henry Yuk. The reading will include live music from the erhu—a Chinese violin—performed by Todd Low.
Lend Us Your Ears provides patrons the opportunity to join the directors, actors and artistic staff of The Shakespeare Theatre explore works under consideration for production in upcoming seasons. These script-in-hand readings feature members of The Shakespeare Theatre’s esteemed company of actors as well as prestigious guest artists. Background information about the play is provided and a talk-back session with director, cast and audience follows each reading.
