"I used to think that state aid to the theatre was the
solution. There should be state aid, of course, but I've grown
frightened of people who hold the money.
Bureaucrats are dangerous in any art, in any land. It
would be fine if government would put in the money and then go mind its
business. But it won't."
-Lillian Hellman
1962
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Production Photographs of
THE MOTHER
Scroll down to see pictures of several different
performances of our production as both the cast and audience bring Brecht's
play to life.
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ON THE READY
Before each performance, the cast gathers for warm
ups. Pictured left: the cast forms a circle and starts off with a
series of stretching exercises.
Starting from down right and proceeding clockwise
around the circle we see: Lawrence Rowswell*, Jason E. Robinson, Bekki
Sliwa, Assistant Director Bob Van Valin, babushka-clad Rebecca Ward,
Andrew Kottler, Tim Stuff, Colleen Neumann, Sean Marciniak, John Kehoe,
and the right arm of John Jacoby. |
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THE AMBIANCE-MAKERS
Also getting on the ready is our two-man team of our bohemian
found-sound musicians with their indefatiguable arsenal of inventive
instruments perched atop the booth. In the fort below, the Stage
Manager Laura Mooney (and her majestic gams!) makes some final checks on
the lighting board.
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LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
Ushering the audience in, we start off bringing
everyone into the circle for a rousing game of ball toss. Note the
trepidacious looks in the eyes of audience members as they wonder what
else is in store for them! |
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WELCOME TO THE MACHINE
For the next step of drawing the audience into our story, the actors work
with the audience to form a massive group machine. One
particularly daring patron lays down on the floor to embody their cog in
the mechanism. At left, two audience members -- local playwright
Anna Kay France and Reporter Mike Desmond -- good-naturedly move to join
into the mix.
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THE MOTHER SMELLS
TROUBLE
Wrapping up our introductory games, we move onto
Scene One of Brecht's play where the titular Mother (Rebecca Ward,
right) stirs her soup and worries about what her son Pavel (Andrew
Kottler, left) is up to with his suspicious friends.
At left, Masha (Bekki Sliwa, center) and Anton
(Tim Stuff, center left) show Pavel how to use their printing
press (embodied by a cooperative audience member, in this case
Subversive Theatre's Resident Director Virginia Brannon*) to churn
out Bolshevik leaflets.
Other helpful audience members hold aloft the
curtains above left. |
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POLICE RAID!
The Chief of Police (John Kehoe, center right) questions
Bolshevik agitator Masha Khalatova (Bekki Sliwa, center left) as
both his actor deputies and his audience volunteer deputies search the
house with hoaky plastic bobby hats and wooden dowels serving as rifles.
Audience volunteers also play the room's sofa at far left and the sides
of the window above left (including Montreal Infringement Festival
Founder Ethan Cox -- the guy in the straw hat).
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FACTORY YARD DEBATE
Like all good Brecht plays, it's not long before we
find ourselves in a factory.
In Scene Two, the Mother finds herself caught in the
middle of factory politics. Pictured left: we see the prototypical
concession-minded workers' representative Alexei Michailovich Kharpov (Colleen
Neumann*, standing on block at center) urging the proletarians to
accept a pay cut.
Our cast intermingles with audience volunteers (the
ones wearing hard hats, including wild & crazy Joe Siracusa --
creator of one-man show I AM HAMLET -- at far left) to form
the workforce of the Suklinov Factory. |
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RABBLE-ROUSING
Sick of Kharpov's talk of concessions, our Bolshevik cell organizer
Anton (Tim Stuff, far left) leads his fellow reds in a recitation
of Brecht's song "The Patches and the Coat" while
weaving through the crowd urging the workers to go on strike!
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MARXISM 101
Returning from the factory for Scene Three, the
Mother (Rebecca Ward, seated center) gets her first introduction
to Marxist philosophy -- with the explanation of the difference between
owning a factory and owning a table -- from her son Pavel (Andrew
Kottler, seated right) and his friendly neighborhood gang of
Bolshevik agitators -- Ivan Vessovchikov (John Jacoby, standing left),
Masha Khalatova (Bekki Sliwa, seated far right), and Cell Leader
Anton (Tim Stuff, seated left).
The audience is stunned not to be playing any parts
in this picture. |
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TAKIN' IT TO THE STREETS!
Next stop on the Mother's evolution to super-Bolshevik, we join her as
she demonstrates with the workers on the streets of Tver, Russia on May
Day 1905.
In our rendition, the actors hand out pickets signs to the audience and
urge them to join in the protest. Pictured right we see Kharpov (Colleen
Neumann*, center right) holding aloft the red flag at the head of the
protest. Actors and audience volunteers alike make up the crowd.
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THE DEFENDERS OF
PRIVILEGE
What May Day Demonstration would be complete without
a column of rifle-totting soldiers?
Pictured left we see the Chief of Police (John
Kehoe, above center) barking orders at his squadron of deputies
including actors (from right to center -- Jason E. Robinson, Lawrence
Rowswell*, and Sean Marciniak) and audience volunteers (from
center to left -- Subversive Theatre's Production Manager Rachel
Zeller*, Board Member June Chvala*, and some guy I don't know by name)
who use wooden dowels to symbolically represent rifles. |
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THE OPPRESSORS BULLETS
Ending much the way so many May Day Demonstrations have ended throughout
history, Kharpov (Colleen Neumann*, lying on floor at center right)
falls to the ground shot dead by the soldiers as Bolshevik agitators
Anton (Tim Stuff, right) and Ivan (John Jacoby, center)
rush to his side. Audience volunteers make up the phalanx of
demonstrators in the background.
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THE BATON IS PASSED
With Kharpov (Colleen Neumann*, on the floor at
left) lying dead at her feet, The Mother (Rebecca Ward, center)
dramatically takes up the red flag . . . much to the surprise of her son
Pavel (Andrew Kottler, right).
Actors and audience alike make up the gang of
soldiers in the background. |
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SAFE HOUSE . . . SORT OF.
Now on the run from the authorities, Ivan
Vessovchikov (John Jacoby, left) takes The Mother (Rebecca
Ward, seated center) to stay in the house of his curmudgeonly -- and
fiercely anti-Bolshevik -- brother Nicholai (Lawrence Rowswell*,
right), a very middle class teacher.
Nicholai agrees to take The Mother in on one condition: "No
talk of politics." How long The Mother will
be able to stick to that agreement?
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THE TEACHER LEARNS FROM
THE STUDENT
Settling in to her new accommodations, the Mother (Rebecca
Ward, far left) cons Nicholai (Lawrence Rowswell*, left) into
teaching her would-be Bolshevik recruits (seated from center to right
-- Jason E. Robinson, Colleen Neumann, and John Kehoe) how to read.
An audience volunteer (Montreal Infringement
Festival Founder Donovan King) serves as the teacher's easel holding
up the chalkboard at center. |
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VISITING HOURS
In Scene Eight, the Mother (Rebecca Ward, up
center) goes to visit her son Pavel (Andrew Kottler, down center)
to get the names of his radical contacts in the countryside. A
nosey prison guard (Bekki Sliwa, center right) forces them to
talk in code.
Audience volunteers link arms to form the wall that divides mother and
son (including our Director's Brother, Franz Schneiderman, the
red-shirted wall-component at center).
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STRIKERS IN THE
COUNTRYSIDE
Onto Scene 9, the Mother (Rebecca Ward, left)
talks with the not-so-bright countryside strike leader Yegor Lushin (straw
hat-wearing Sean Marciniak, far left) about their struggle against
the Smirnov Estate.
Lushin explains that their strike will fail if the
Butcher at the Smirnov Estate continues to feed the thugs hired to break
to strike.
Actors and audience volunteers once again make up the
gang of pickets upstage. |
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STRIKE-BREAKERS SUCK!
Undaunted, The Mother (Rebecca Ward, seated left)
tromps on to the Smirnov Estate where she meets two insufferable
strike-breakers (Colleen Neumann*, standing right and Tim Stuff, seated
right) and the Butcher's less-than-cooperative wife (Bekki Sliwa,
standing left).
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Ever on the ready with her polemics, The Mother (Rebecca
Ward, seated right) at last gets the chance to try and win the
Butcher (John Kehoe, standing left) to her cause.
Bringing all she has learned through the course of
her travails to bear, she starts off her pitch with: "...let's
talk about the difference between owning a factory and owning a
table." |
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THE BEARERS OF BAD NEWS
The Mother (Rebecca Ward, center) is joined by
her comrades Anton (Tim Stuff, right), Ivan (John Jacoby,
center right) and Masha (Bekki Sliwa, left) who deliver the
terrible news that her son Pavel has been executed by the Czar.
Nicholai Vessovchikov (Lawrence Rowswell*, far left) watches in
disbelief. Yet another cooperative audience member embodies The
Mother's printing press at right.
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ONWARD CHRISTIAN
SOLDIERS
Returning to the house of Nicholai Vessovchikov (Lawrence
Rowswell*, up left) for Scene 11, the Mother (Rebecca Ward, far
right) stares down Bible-thumping Landlady Vera Stephanovna (babushka-clad
Sean Marciniak, center right) as Tatiana Sigorskaya (Colleen
Neumann, far left) reaches for the Holy Bible (embodied by oh-so
pious-looking Jason E. Robinson!). |
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THE LAST TEMPTATION OF NICHOLAI
And -- surprise, surprise -- cynical old Nicholai (Lawrence
Rowswell*, far left) at last sees the light and joins the ranks of
The Mother (Rebecca Ward, center left) and her band of
revolutionaries.
Meanwhile, Tatiana (Colleen Neumann*, center),
Ivan (John Jacoby, center right), Anton (Tim Stuff, right),
and Masha (Bekki Sliwa, far right) get back to work cranking out
leaflets on our audience volunteer printing press.
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THE RED FLAG FLIES HERE
For the play's grand finale, the cast once again
leads the audience in a mass demonstration, this time as the workers
prepare for the Revolution of 1917. Now proudly leading the march
with the red flag in hand, the Mother (Rebecca Ward, right) turns
to explain to the crowd the reasons for her transformation from a
scared, uneducated woman into a truculent revolutionary leader.
Actors and audience members make up the circle of
demonstrator (actor Jason E. Robinson frames the picture at far left). |
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REVOLUTION NOW!
Our daring ensemble gathers to deliver the play's closing revolutionary
invective: "...and never will be changed into TODAY!"
The cast from left to right:
Sean Marciniak, John Jacoby, Bekki Sliwa, Andrew Kottler, Rebecca
Ward, Colleen Neumann*, Tim Stuff, John Kehoe, Lawrence Rowswell*, and
Jason E. Robinson.
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* = indicates members of the Subversive Theatre
Collective
Photography by Kurt Schneiderman.
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