HSC’s “Motherhood Out Loud” has something for everyone

HARTFORD — If you are a mom or were born to one — and let’s face it, who isn’t? — this show is for you. There is something in Hartford Stage Company’s production of “Motherhood Out Loud” for everyone.
The one act show is presented in a rapid-fire succession of individuals and groups of twos and threes, in vignettes and scenes of motherhood and parenthood stories.
The stories, conceived by Joan Stein and Susan Rose and written by 14 different women, covered a whole gamut of relationships in all types of scenarios, from “gaybie” babies, to adoption, to a Muslim mother, in situations ranging from birth, to playground politics, to weddings, and everything in between.
The actors read from three-ring binder scripts off and on, much as “The Vagina Monologues,” with plenty of profanity, particularly at the start.
Sometimes the actors gave monologues, while other times they spoke to each other, and still other times there were two or three talking in cross-sentences about the same subject, from puberty to Thanksgiving.
Gracefully directed by Lisa Paterson, the show has a feeling of the dance of life, or as one character, played by the fine Amy Irving, says when her musical high school son going off to college, “a highway of tears.”
“I’m waiting to stop waiting,” she says vacantly. “It’s taking a while. It seems to be taking a while.”
Irving, Randi Graff, and April Yvette Thompson all complement each other beautifully, and are well cast for this play.
About half way through the 90-minute production, the show starts to drag some despite their best efforts though, and then James Lecesne steps on board, bringing new energy and a male perspective to the proceedings.
Lecesne’s first character is a homosexual man who decides with his partner to have a surrogate carry their child, or as he calls it, a “gaybie.”
He tells the audience that he and his partner have been together for eight years, “which is 56 years in heterosexual time.”
His piece as the divorced man who moves back with his mother, switching roles in the process, and sending her to school, is finely underplayed.
Thompson is funny as the 12-year-old girl interviewing her cantacorous grandmother played by Graff, as well as the young Muslim girl who pokes her head up from behind a low wall at amusing moments, chiming in just like kids do when their parents make incorrect statements.
Graff plays the Muslim mother who inaccurately hurls a plethora of items at her kids, who have cataloged them as “victims of velocity” and complains about their use of “face space.” Her exasperated daughter, (Thompson) clarifies that it is “Facebook” and “My Space,” but mom sticks doggedly to her own term.
In one scene the three gals deal with breasts — one mother, Graff, has a 14-year-old daughter who doesn’t need a bra, but gets her one for the girl’s ego, complaining, “$42 for a bra the size of a postage stamp.”
Another mom, Irving, has a 10-year-old daughter who is bigger than she is, while the third, Thompson, has a son who is getting too chubby and appears to be developing breasts.
Some scenes are heartbreaking, like the nanny living in California taking care of other’s children, while her own son in El Salvador has his birthday without her, played by Thompson.
Thompson also portrays a mother whose son is in Iraq, and deftly brings to life the anxiety of a mother whose son could die any day.
Graff injured her leg last week and reviews were postponed until director Lisa Paterson could re-stage the show to accommodate the handicapped actress, and Wednesday’s performance, with the new staging, went smoothly.
Between quick scenes the lights dim and cool cartoon animated scenes (adorable animation by Emily Hubley) danced on three screens (projection designed by Jan Hartley) while different music, from Dolly Parton to Charlie Brown-like piano tunes, played, with original sound design and music by Jill BC DuBoff.
The blessing of this show is that the divergent characters from dramatically different backgrounds say in many different ways what mothers everywhere have probably always wanted to say to their children.
As one mother says in a beautiful revere of love and amazement to her newborn — “One second you were in there and the next second you were here, and I got to be there.”
“Motherhood Out Loud” is a great big reminder that regardless of your history or religious upbringing, life is a miracle to be cherished daily.

MOTHERHOOD OUT LOUD

3½ Stars
Location: Hartford Stage Company, 50 Church Street, Hartford.
Production: Co-conceived by Susan R. Rose and Joan Stein. Directed by Lisa Peterson. Scenic design by Rachel Hauck. Costume design by David C. Woolard. Lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski. Original music and sound design by Jill BC DuBoff. Projection design by Jan Hartley. Animation design by Emily Hubley.
Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission.
Show Times: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees performances Sundays and selected Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 p.m. through March 21.
Tickets: $23 — $66. Call 860-527-5151 or visit their website at www.hartfordstage.org.
ACTOR…CHARACTER
Randy Graff
Amy Irving
James Lecesne
April Yvette Thompson