FULL LENGTH PLAYS
Mother's Bliss, Mother's Woe
“What would you risk to save the life of someone you love?”
Mother’s Bliss, Mother’s Woe is a full length drama, filled with magical realism is set in the First Ward (Irish Ghetto) of Buffalo, NY in 1871, but it is teaming with the conflicts many Americans struggle with today : women’s rights; immigration; friction between religion and science/medicine; the challenges faced by the mentally ill and the families who care for them; and what we will risk to save the life of someone we love. It is 1871 in Buffalo’s First Ward and Mary Ryan, a young woman who escaped a terrifying
traumatic life in an Ireland decimated by the Great Famine, has lost four of her children to a diphtheria epidemic. Mary is slipping into the safety of her imaginary world that is peopled with the “protectors” she created as a child. Knowing she can no longer delay her descent into madness or rely on her overworked husband and teenage children to help her, Mary reaches out to her older sister Peg, a nun who has recently returned from France and study with neurologist Jean Martine Charcot. Peg and Mary battle against a dogma driven Catholic priest, the Saints in Mary’s mind, and the desperate poverty of Buffalo’s First Ward as they explore a radical treatment in the hope of saving Mary’s life.
“Mother’s Bliss Mother’s Woe is a heartwarming play about family, love and courage. Although the immigrants in this play are Irish who arrived in America in the mid-1800’s, the story of the American immigrant and the hardships they face still resonate today. These characters are survivors. Peg and Mary are extremely gifted and bright. They discover a way to persist and thrive in a world that is very challenging - especially for women. The play celebrates the music, humor and strong sense of pride in community that has helped the Irish (and so many other cultures) survive through the centuries. The play was inspired by tales I heard of my great grandmother. As the play grew and developed, it was strongly influenced by the disturbing demonization of immigrants by many of our elected officials - many of whom have Irish surnames - whose families were the “unwanted” poor immigrants who were seen as “freeloaders” not that long ago.”
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TEN MINUTE PLAYS
Mother's Pearls
Tricia - a tenacious beautician - is preparing her mother’s corpse when her twin sister Tina - a stylish psychologist - turns up at the back door of the funeral home after fifteen years of no contact with her family which throws the estranged sisters are into hilarious as they are forced by a string of pearls - and their mother’s bloated corpse - to work come together and bury the sins of the past.
While fishing on a lake that can no longer sustain aquatic life, Tom - a brilliant environmental scientist struggles to re-connect with his best friend from childhood, Norman - a wealthy, unethical entrepreneur. What do these guys really hope to “hook, pull and reel in?”
Fishing
Lillie and Donna have a lot to celebrate - 25 years in a committed relationship and the release of a video tape that will sink presidential hopes for Candidate Trump and pave the way for the first female president. But the day is overshadowed by Lillie's anxiety over an upcoming "emergency" mammogram. Lillie finally falls asleep and some very strange events occur. When she wakes, she does not know what day it is, who is president and whether or not she has breast cancer.
E Pluribus Unum