A Mother

Stage treasure Jessica Hecht (Eureka Day) stars in a new play, conceived by Hecht and playwright Neena Beber, that updates the gist of Bertolt Brecht's pedantic 1932 drama The Mother, about an impoverished Russian woman's journey toward Marxist revolutionary consciousness. Beber's version relocates the story to Miami in a period that includes the 1980 race riots that followed the murder of motorist Arthur McDuffie by a group of policemen. (Adapted from a novel by Maxim Gorky, Brecht's original is seldom revived, though the Wooster Group took at shot at it in 2021). Maria Mileaf directs the premiere, which features choreography by Shura Baryshnikov and an eclectic score overseen by musical director Mustapha Khan. The supporting cast includes Zane Pais, Portia Johnson and Delilah Napier.