Momsrising Will Be at Post-Show Discussion!

Fabulous news! Momsrising Senior Campaign Director Donna Norton will be attending the play on September 5 and speaking afterward at the post-show discussion. So you must come to the show, not just to see the play (which I hope makes you think deeply and laugh at the same time), but also to talk about important mommy issues!

Momsrising is the premiere motherhood movement in the United States, working hard to make sure moms' views are represented in the laws that get passed. Click here immediately to find out more info on this organization that ROCKS!

Taskmaster? Michelle Obama?

Where did I get the idea for this play? Well, I was sitting in my living room one night folding (endless) laundry on a cold winter's night flipping channels because despite hundreds of channels, you know, they're nothing to watch. I normally don't leave it on CNN...only if it's Campbell Brown because she rocks my world and I'm not sure why (maybe it's my Type A rising persona)...but that night when I flipped to CNN Michelle Obama was being interviewed by CNN Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. I was intrigued. Michelle Obama has, from the very beginning of the Obama campaigned, piqued my curiosity. A career mother with a busy life, busy husband, two kids nearly the same age as mine and somehow not only looks (because many political wives look put together) but acts like she's made it to a place where I want to be. Basically:

I want what she's got.

Not the White House, not the staff (well, I wouldn't refuse the staff), not the gorgeous children (mine are pretty darn sparkly too, at least to me), but I was more intrigued by just about everything that came out of her mouth. It felt much deeper than any other political mother I had ever heard speak. And in this interview that cold night while folding laundry I heard the newscaster say to Michelle:

"I hear at home you're the Taskmaster."

And the Bitch in me thought: Whoa! "Taskmaster?!" What a negative, slutty word for what mothers do. It conjured up images of me being the Bad Guy while my husband, who takes less of a role in running the household was the "bread earner" not the guy who doesn't know my kids' shoe sizes and hasn't a clue if we got their teachers end of the year gifts. Taskmaster gave me charge through my entire body. But, interestingly, it didn't seem to piss Michelle off in the same way. I was curious. I wanted 5 minutes with Michelle Obama to ask her why she wasn't triggered by that word. But although the Obama's have opened up the White House for many I knew Michelle probably had better things to do than sit on her couch and talk to me about motherhood.

So I decided to write about it. A short piece on motherhood so there's lots of time for discussion afterward because us mother's have to talk, right?!

Here's a summary of the play:

Beth, a 45 year old Ivy League educated Jewish woman, is trapped in her life as a working-from-home mother of three boys. What is it going to take for her to get out of a frazzled state and make it to “the other side?” Help from her kvetching Jewish mother? Gloria Steinem? Or perhaps a visit from Michelle Obama?

That's right. This play is giving you - and me - our five minutes with Michelle Obama. It felt good to write it. It felt right. I hope I've captured Michelle's point and the play sparks mothers to talk about motherhood and get involved in mothering issues.

Okay, now I'm off to get my youngest son to his playdate and then drive an hour to my older son's dance performance tonight. My husband (who's on vacation) and mother are both helping me this week so it all feels a bit effortless compared to my normal life.

Motherhood really rocks...except when it doesn't.

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Details on Seeing Michelle Obama: Taskmaster

What’s a “work-in-progress?” Well, it means I’ll probably change it a gazillion times after you see it at The Kennedy Center and in two years time I’ll finally believe it’s finished – no more rewrites – and promise my husband – No More Rewrites - and then suddenly while waiting in traffic in my minivan, my two boys into another argument about whose turn it is to play the Wii, I will decide: it’s not finished yet. But at least you can say you saw the play first – in the raw.

What’s a staged reading? This means actors will sit on the stage and read the play. No sets, no costumes, no frills. But really great acting and surprisingly entertaining.

Who’s Women’s Work Writers Group? Right now we’re five fabulous women playwrights in DC who decided to band together to get our work out there. We don’t grovel to Artistic Directors to produce our work, but we have been known to wine and dine a few super-terrific Artistic Directors in the DC area. We’re producing two theater pieces on September 5 – mine at 9pm, and a wonderful new play by Shelley Gillon ““Crawling from the Ashes of September 11,” a touching piece based on a sister’s memoir of her brother’s death in one of the planes that crashed on September 11.

What’s a One Act Play? Quick answer: it’s short and sweet. The play will probably be over in thirty minutes. But wait! I need you to stay for the post-show discussion. That’s where you’ll give me feedback on what you liked/disliked about the play (don’t worry, I will be heavily sedated on Advil so I can take it!). We’ll also have what I expect to be a lively discussion on motherhood. Unless no one has anything to say about motherhood, which if that’s the case I better know now before I start spending the midnight hour sending out a few thousand emails to theaters across the country to produce this play.

What’s free? Oh wait, I think you know what that means! As my Jewish grandmother would say: How can you not go to something that’s free?

Here are the details on the performance for those poster-challenged people:

Michelle Obama: Taskmaster by Karen Brody

The Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage Festival

Saturday, September 5, 2009

9pm

Terrace Theater

It’s FREE! (so no excuses!)

For more information direct from The Kennedy Center click here.

Time to Push this Baby Out!

Greetings to all you Beautiful Moms!... and “friends” of moms (husbands, grandparents or anyone considering going to a play about motherhood!)

I wrote this One Act from my heart meaning: I had to write it. Even with the dishes, laundry and assorted other “tasks” that seem to control my life many days I had no choice. Like giving birth without drugs, when the baby’s coming it knows and you know even if you don’t think you know a thing about pushing a baby out or you’re too scared to push. My due date is now.

I’m inviting you on the Taskmaster journey with me. Post your comments on this blog about any mothering issues on your mind, but especially how work/life balance issues. And come see the play on September 5! Mothers deserve a night out, right?!

xo

Taskmaster Karen