Those who have never been on a stage as well as seasoned actors are invited to audition.

The production will be directed by Mindy Smidt and performed March 13 and 14 at College Park.

“This play reveals with illuminating insight the humor, raw emotions and rocky roads we experience in life. As I read the script, I was laughing one minute and crying the next. It’s an emotional roller coaster that honors mothers. It depicts how special women are and the impact they have on numerous lives,” Executive Director Anita Lewandowski Brown said of the play.

Those interested in volunteering in other ways or individuals unable to attend auditions can call 308-383-1312 to schedule a time to meet with the director.

For more information about the YWCA of Grand Island, call 308-384-9922 or visit www.ywca-gi.org.

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I am an actor, writer, and audiobook narrator. Some stuff I feel proud of: my theatre work here and in the UK, my three episodes of Chappelle’s Show, but especially the comedy sketches I write, produce and perform myself. Here’s my Sound of Music one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmCasABEO6M and a little bit of me doing Kate Winslet:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SRu2Vrevck

What was your road to parenthood like? Surprising at each turn. I got pregnant unexpectedly when my now husband and I had recently moved in but were unmarried. It was honestly the first time in my life I was not absolutely scrupulously careful about birth control. (Can’t say the same about adverbs.) I was only 34 but felt like an irresponsible teenager– I took sex ed, I knew you could get pregnant the first time you were not careful, how did this happen?? When I went to the doctor and they wrote “AMA—for Advanced Maternal Age” on my chart, because I would be just 35 when the baby was born, I laughed out loud.

The second time was another, very different challenge. We found out through a quad screening and then amniocentesis that our son had Down syndrome. We chose him, and had a beautiful, robustly healthy boy, born by surprise on our vacation on Cape Cod!

What do you see as the positives and challenges of having a child at age 35 or over? I had major baby lust when I was 22. I was in absolutely no place to have a child, but I was very close to some children I took care of, and I remember wanting a child terribly. I think sometimes, now, what that would have been like…

[Read the rest of the review here]

The moment my first son was born, I remember the world I knew rushing out, rather like the one one trillionth of a second after the Big Bang in which the universe began to grow outward in all directions and went from nothing to infinite. The life I knew had gone forever and a new life came at the same moment in its place. With a bright red scrotum.

There is this, that you know, if you are a mother. You are a member of a club—yay! A club they can never kick you out of. You are a Mom. Important. Beloved. Cherished. Needed. Purposeful.

I felt all this in the years after my first son was born. And then I got pregnant again and I also felt a host of other things that put me in quite a different club.

I was told, after my 15-week quad screen came back with a very high risk of chromosomal abnormality, that there was a 1 in 2 chance that my baby had “Trisomy 21, Trisomy 18, or Trisomy 13.” All the little trisomies; the first of which was familiar to me from my college biology class, the diagnosis otherwise known as Down syndrome. I remembered my college friends Chris and Peter, who also took that lecture class, inventing a game show like blackjack where the pregnant mom is told (game show announcer voice) “You have 21!!!!” Their increasingly exaggerated voices played back to me in stereo during the following months, as I anticipated the birth of a child with Down syndrome: driving my son to daycare, sitting in the dim light of yet another distant ultrasound room, waiting for another specialist with an ever-more-complicated-to-pronounce kind of job, another procedure.

[Read the rest of the article on WamTheatre.com]

Life can be utterly unpredictable, and starting and raising a family can be both a rewarding and terrifying experience.

Insomniac Theatre explores the joys and difficulties of parenting in their poignant comedic production of Motherhood Out Loud.

The production is a series of skits that portray all the beautiful, hilarious and downright crazy moments of raising a family, says director and producer Maggie Scott.

“It’s not a cutesy look at motherhood, all rosy with rose-coloured glasses on, it shows you the downsides too,” she says.

Premiering in Australia after a hugely successful run in the United States, Motherhood Out Loud is a fiercely real and honest portrayal of the changing families in society.

“It has a bit of everything, same sex family, adopted family, blended family. There are not just nuclear families anymore, there are many different mixes,” she says.

The production uses simple monologues and staging to express the evolving experience of life, from birth all the way to becoming a great grandparent.

“It goes from childbirth to the first day at school, to grandparents and everything in between, and lets not forget the obnoxious teenagers!” she says.

This unique and relatable show promises to make audiences laugh and tug at the heartstrings. (SO)

Mar 19-Apr 6, The Exchange Hotel Balmain, 94 Beattie St, Balmain $18-25, trybooking.com/70560

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When my parents got divorced my mom and I didn’t have a good relationship for a long time. It wasn’t till I moved to my dad’s and the next year college that we really formed the amazing bond we now have.  My mom came to see the show this past weekend and had one of the best reaction to this show then any other theater productions I have ever worked on. During rehearsal of this show my grandmother passed away and it was a hard time for all of us. I had not always got along with her and neither had my mother but her passing was difficult. After the show I talked to her and she absolutely loved it. She started crying and said I wish your grandmother could have been here she would have loved this show. I don’t know how my grandmother found out, probably from my mom, but she always knew when my opening nights were for every show i did and she would call me and wish me luck. This was the first show that I did not get that call from her and it was defiantly a hard opening night for me. In honor of her I wore one of her daisy pins to keep her memory with me. My mom wished my grandmother was there but I know she was there watching over both of us in that moment and would be proud of both of us.

This show not only brought my mom and I closer together but also the cast. We got a glimpse into each other’s life and shared personal stories that bonded us as a group. I never thought going into this show that I would have all of these wonderful memories shared and also remembered but also this show helped me through losing my grandmother. I am so thankful to be apart of a show like this and cannot wait to share some of these experiences when I have children in the future.

-Jeff Kosloski

By David Johnston

I am currently in rehearsals as the lone male in the Invisible Theatre’s production of “Motherhood Out Loud” in Tucson, AZ.

I have to begin by saying I have never been to a table read for any other play where we had to stop four times to pass around the tissues.  Not because it is sad-quite the contrary-because it is filled with so much heart.

I have two monologues that are so close to my own story I feel as if they were written with me in mind.

10 years ago I was to be the sperm donor for my sister and her partner’s child. My sister-in -law was to carry and I could make their child genetically linked. I went through a battery of tests-only to unfortunately find out I didn’t have very active swimmers.  We went to plan B which involved invitro with an annonymous donor.  I was now just on the perifery but I was going through the excitement with my sisters.  My sister-in-law got pregnant and only carried 12 weeks.  The emotions ran high for months.  She endured several more attempts-getting pregnant each time and each time losing the child at about 12 weeks.  The added difficulty of miscarriage is how unfeeling others can be.  “You can try again”, “It wasn’t meant to be I guess”.  Those are comments from people who knew she was with child-because she never got to the point of showing.  The private mourning became too much for them.  They discussed switching to my sister carrying a child but decided they did not want to deal with one partner being able to do what the other could not.  They decided to adopt and/or foster.

They were on several lists and had all of the items needed for a toddler in their home.

One morning,  they got a call from a hospital telling them there was a newborn available for adoption but they needed an answer in twenty minutes-there are others waiting to adopt as well.  My sisters of course screamed yes and went directly to the hospital.  They brought their daughter home, wrapped in a tablecloth-the only thing resembling a baby blanket that they had.  They were well prepared for a toddler but had nothing for a newborn.

The following morning, all of their local friends were lined up at their door with everything they needed. “Brave new world”!

Knowing how much they wanted a child and what they were willing to go through to be parents, it takes my breath away to think of a surrogate offering to help create a family.  What a loving thing to do.

My mother fell getting out of an elevator about 8 years ago.  She hit her head and needed stitches.  Did she trip, have a stroke or get dizzy? We don’t know and at this point it doesn’t really matter.  It was the first sign that things were changing.  My parents then moved to Tucson because I live here and would  be available to keep an eye on them.  They were young-68-active-they walked everywhere-and healthy.  Other than her accident, my mother had never been in a hospital except to deliver each of her 5 children.  I was invited to have lunch at their condo one day and Mom had set the table.  Each place setting had three pieces of flatware and they were all spoons.  My father held up a spoon and said “I need a fork” my mother responded “That is a fork”.This sign was clear as could be.  Her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s came shortly after.  I recall her frustration when she could not find the right words and just shouted “shit” instead.  I remember her saying she was now broken.  We went through the ginko and the garlic and curry and the crossword puzzles and favorite old books.

They had to move out of the condo when Mom could no longer manage the stairs-she developed a visual aphasia-her world was tipped to one side.  They moved to a senior living environment.  This was a big help.  It gave Mom  social opportunities and got Dad out of the kitchen because meals were prepared in the dining room.

As the child living near my parents, I became the eyes and ears for my out of town sisters.  I tried to keep them informed as the disease progressed with detailed e-mails and phone calls.  Mom was able to stay with Dad for about a year in this new environment.  I was called upon multiple times to calm her down and talk her through some issue.  She was convinced that my father was having women over “when I am not here”.  Seeing as my parents were always together, it was clear that there was no time when Mom wasn’t there-at least physically.  I had to convince my father that the best way to calm her and move forward was to appologize and assure her it would never happen again.  He said “I didn’t do anything wrong”  I explained that in her mind it was all true.  It broke my heart to watch him tell her how sorry he was and that he would not upset her again.

We ended up placing her in care about three and a half years ago.

As of today she is blind, wheel-chair bound and basically does not speak.  She has not known me or my father for about 2 and a half years.

I visit once a week and sing to her.  She recognized my singing voice in a crowded room about three years ago-if she on some level knows that I am there I am happy to sing for her.  I always sing the same song-”Over the Rainbow” because that was the song I sang the last time I knew she knew who I was.  My mother taught me compassion for all living beings.  If I can live my life with that compassion and share it with others-I can honor her.