Image control and message focus are vital to winning U.S. Presidential elections. A new play by L.E. McCullough suggests that the men who occupied the White House got there because of their mom.
The stories of 15 remarkable women are told in First Mothers: The Women Who Raised America’s Presidents, presented by Prime Stage Theatre and directed by Ponny Conomos Jahn. First Mothers: The Women Who Raised America’s Presidents features Kaitlin Cliber, Lynne Franks, Kerry McGrath, Stacey Rosleck, and Jen Sinatra performing short character monologues that capture each presidential mother in a real-time life episode.
“These women helped shape the destiny of the United States as we know it today,” says McCullough. “You research the early lives of the presidents, and it becomes quickly apparent that the essential ethical character and philosophical outlook of each were strongly molded by his mother.”
The play opens with musket-toting Elizabeth Jackson, an Irish immigrant risking her life to broker a prisoner exchange she hopes will free her 13-year-old son Andrew, who was sick with smallpox in a British Revolutionary War jail. It ends in a wilderness log cabin with Sarah Lincoln, herself illiterate, trading personal keepsakes to acquire books for her stepson Abraham.
Other First Mothers portrayed are Sara Roosevelt, Lillian Carter, Dorothy Ford, Rose Kennedy, Hannah Nixon, Martha Truman, Nelle Reagan, Virginia Clinton, Ann Obama, Ida Eisenhower, Nancy Lincoln, Mary Washington, and Rebekah Johnson.
For director Ponny Conomos Jahn, the play has provided a new perspective on a seldom-glimpsed chapter in U.S. history. “Through loving and sometimes critical eyes,” she says, “we are taken on a journey where we experience the surprising viewpoints of these fascinating women and find ourselves challenging everything we thought we knew about their powerful sons.”
First Mothers: The Women Who Raised America’s Presidents takes place on the set of Great Expectations, running Nov. 1-10 as the opening show in Prime Stage Theatre’s 2024-25 season.
“Each of our plays this season has a central focus on youth and family,” says Prime Stage Theatre artistic director Dr. Wayne Brinda. “The First Mothers were ordinary American mothers of their time who never stopped believing that faith and hard work can change the world in extraordinary ways, starting with the family. That’s always a story worth telling.”
TICKETS AND DETAILS
The play will be performed on Monday, November 4th, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. at New Hazlett Theater. Admission is pay-what-you-can; tickets are available by calling (412) 320- 4610 ext. 1 or reserving online at https://tinyurl.com/3smy4kvp
Categories: Arts and Ideas
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