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Bricklayers July 12

by Matt Trucano, Artistic Director for Bricklayers Theatre Company

The Bricklayers are well underway with Mother Courage and have begun their time at the Department of Cultural Affairs.  We are thrilled to have Mariana Araoz back in the rehearsal room and it has been exciting to see her creative vision of the play start to come to life.  Playing no small part in that creation is Barbra Berlovitz, who we couldn’t be more honored to have in Chicago playing the title role.  Prior to our time at the DCA, we had only read the play with Barbra a handful of times.  Joining her in readings was exciting, but watching her become Mother Courage in the rehearsal room has been downright electrifying.  It is clear that she is digging her teeth into this role.

Pictured: Mariana Araoz (in prop fur coat), Barbara Berlovitz, Betsy Beams

Another person who has played a big part in creating the world of the play is Sonya Berlovitz, an outstanding costume designer who has given us much inspiration for our characters via her costume concepts.  We’ve been weaving the costumes into the rehearsal process, and continue to get several new pieces everyday as our team of Costume Assistants have been hard at work creating our clothes.

Pictured: Patrick Goulding, Sonya Berlovitz

In rehearsal we have started to really dig deep into the play and have been developing many rich and complex characters.  It will be exciting to see what we unearth in the weeks to come. Mariana has talked a lot about our characters being wandering nomads, collecting things on our travels and doing everything we can to survive along the way.  We are much like these nomads as we start to take our show on its journey.  We have certainly collected several things and will continue to do so for quite some time.  As Mariana might say, “as artists, we are fighting a war,” and as Mother Courage might say, “there’s no sign that the war will end soon.” Right now, we are setting up camp at the DCA.  Who knows where our next stop will be?

(Actually, we do: the University of Chicago… stay tuned!)

The Bricklayers