You may not have seen a play by German playwright Bertolt Brecht, but you’ve most assuredly seen a piece of theater, cinema or even sideshows or vaudeville that have been influenced by him.  Brecht transformed twentieth century theater with the idea that actors on the stage could not merely entertain, but could provoke, at the least, reflection on society’s ills, and the best, full-on revolution. Brecht escaped the Nazi regime in 1939, and eventually emigrated to the United States in 1941.  While living in exile, he finished Mother Courage and Her Children, the story of a camp-follower in an unnamed middle European country who loses her children to an ongoing perpetual war.  Madison’s Fermat’s Last Theater Company plans to mount a full production of Mother Courage.  To whet our appetites for the main course, due out some time in 2018, they’ve put together “Mother Courage Alone”, a dramatic reading of some selections from Brecht’s work, taking place at the Arts and Literature Laboratory this weekend.  Joining Eight O’Cl;ock Buzz host Brian Standing in the studio are director David Williams, Greer Dubois, who plays Mother Courage, narrator Steven Silvis and musician Diana Wheeler, from Fermat’s Last Theater Company.

Actress Greer Dubois, narrator Steven Silvis, musician Diana Wheeler and director David Simmons from Fermat’s Last Theater Company will be presenting “Mother Courage Alone” this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Arts and Literature Laboratory, and again on October 2nd at the Fredric March Play Circle in the Wisconsin Memorial Union.