Tonya Pinkins to Exit 'MOTHER COURAGE' Off-Broadway; Classic Stage Hunts for New Lead

'MOTHER COURAGE' will soon be missing its off-Broadway matriarch. Classic Stage Company's production of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children began performances on December 9, starring Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins. But now BroadwayWorld has confirmed that Pinkins will be leaving the show on January 5, before its originally slated opening night on January 7. That date will now be postponed as the production's creative team hunts for a replacement.

Pinkins told The New York Times she had written a statement about her reasons for leaving the show but that her lawyer urged her not to make it public. "I'm not even sure I want to tell it," she said.

Director Brian Kulick has yet to comment on her departure, and CSC's official statement did not provide specific details on the circumstances surrounding Pinkins' exit. BWW will keep you updated as we learn more.

Mother Courage and Her Children, directed by Kulick and featuring original music by Tony Award winner Duncan Sheik, continues CSC's exploration of the works of Bertolt Brecht with a look at his most famous play. The indomitable Mother Courage follows one luckless army after another across a war-torn world in her canteen wagon. She'll do anything to hold onto her money-making wagon, even if it means the loss of her children, in this timeless tale of war and big business updated to the modern-day conflagration in the Congo.

The cast of Mother Courage and Her Children also includes Joshua Boone, Curtiss Cook Jr., Kevin Mambo, Jacob Ming-Trent, Geoffrey Owens, Michael Potts, Deandre Sevon, Mirirai Sithole and Zenzi Williams. Set design is by Tony Straiges, costume design by Toni-Leslie James, lighting design by Justin Townsend and sound design by Matt Stine.

Pinkins is a Tony Award winner and three-time nominee for performances including Caroline, or Change (winner Obie, AUDELCO, Lortel, Garland, NAACP Theatre, L.A. Drama Critics Awards; Olivier, Drama League, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards noms.); Play On!; Jelly's Last Jam ( winner Tony Award, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Monarch, Clarence Derwent). Other Broadway: Holler If Ya Here Me, A Time to Kill, The Wild Party, Radio Golf, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Merrily We Roll Along. Off-Broadway: Rasheeda Speaking (Lortel Award winner, Drama Desk nom.; The New Group), Milk Like Sugar (Lortel Award winner; Playwrights Horizons). Film/TV: "All My Children," "As the World Turns," "Army Wives," "24," "Criminal Minds," Enchanted, Fading Gigolo, Newlyweeds, Home, "Hostages."