In September 2001, Leese Walker lived in a New York apartment facing the World Trade Center. Walker knew she would create a response to the September tragedy in her artwork, but was uncertain how she wanted to approach this difficult task.

"A month or two after Sept. 11, Tannis (Kowalchuk) approached me with a collection of (Bertolt) Brecht's poems," Walker says. Brecht, one of the most influential playwrights of the 20th century, is famous for his pre-World War II works in which he provoked his audience, demanded reaction and hoped for action. The poems were compelling and relevant to both of the artists. The duo worked with the poems for about a year and a half before they put their show, "10 Brecht Poems," on the road. Pontine brings them to the West End Studio Theatre in Portsmouth this weekend, March 11-13.

Although Kowalchuk and Walker come from different backgrounds, they saw Brecht's work as a great fit for current times. "We took these poems to a school, and the children thought they were written today, and the kids were really excited about them," Walker says.

"One of my favorite lines from Brecht is, 'Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it,'" she notes. It's this spirit that "10 Brecht Poems" carries on.

The show is more than a dialogue with an audience. Brecht plays are known for being great and influential as well as heady and long. There was a production in New York City of Brecht's "Mother Courage" in the winter, where the audience sat for three hours watching the play, some of them sitting on the floor, with the garage doors of the theater opening as part of the play to make sure the audience was nice and cold.

"10 Brecht Poems," however, is not a Brecht play. It is a play created by two artists who use some of Brecht's poems combined with much more fun devices than asking their audience to watch a play shivering for three hours.

The selected Brecht poems become Walker's and Kowalchuk's. They use physical theater, vaudeville, humor, singing, dancing and even puppets to tell their poems to the audience. These moments of juxtaposition between how the poems are delivered and the words the two actresses speak lead to a night sure to be thoughtful, provoking and political, but not as intimidating, as the title might suggest.

"10 Brecht Poems" runs March 11 through 13, at the West End Studio Theatre, 959 Islington St. Portsmouth. Show times are Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $19 for adults, $16 for the Saturday matinee and 25 percent off for students and seniors.