Mother Courage and Her Children

Guest: Barta Heiner, Founder and Director of BYU’s Bachelor of Fine Arts Acting Program  High school students in the US today have never known a time when American troops were not deployed abroad, when the nightly news was not consumed with grim reports of conflict abroad. Even the experts express dread that there’s no clear end in sight to the wars gripping many parts of the world.   Against this backdrop, a play written in 1939 by German exist Bertolt Brecht has renewed currency. “Mother Courage and Her Children” is considered by some to be the greatest play of the 20th century and maybe the greatest anti-war play of all time. It’s set during the Thirty Years War that took place in the 1600s across Central Europe and centers on a woman – nicknamed Mother Courage – who is so dedicating to profiting from the conflict that she loses everything in the process.  BYU is staging the play on campus this week with Barta Heiner in the lead role.