Lost Nation Theater debuts new play, ‘My Mother’s Three Mothers,’ May 25-June 11
May 16, 2023 | By Waterbury Roundabout 
Lost Nation Theater's cast of 'My Mother's three Mothers.' Photo by Wayne Fawbush.
Lost Nation Theater presents a new mainstage show, “My Mother's Three Mothers,” May 25 through June 11.
The production is the world premiere of a play by Vermont playwright, actor and director Erin Galligan Baldwin that’s been in the works for six years.
Play poster image courtesy Lost Nation Theater
Inspired by a true story, “My Mother’s Three Mothers” tells of a woman’s search for her birth mother that brings about shockwaves of secrets, shame, choices and consequences through generations. At its core, the play asks the question “Who owns your story?” the theater’s announcement teases.
“For 20-plus years this play – the story of my mother’s search for a birth mother and their subsequent reconnection – has been swirling in my mind,” Galligan Baldwin explains. “I had 70 pages of their letters; I had interviews with my mother; and I had research into our family tree. However, I was paralyzed by the weight of it all, and couldn't get myself to write a single word. Then, after the birth of my second child, the story finally came pouring out.”
Lost Nation’s producing artistic director, Kathleen Keenan, directs an ensemble cast of five actors in the poignant and even comedic show that Keenan says is “a remarkable theater experience” where the cast creates multiple protagonists who move forward and back in time.
“From the way a flood of emotions sneaks up on you, to the vast variety of theatrical styles that successfully merge, prism-like, to tell this multifaceted story in a way that mesmerizes, surprises, and takes your breath away,” Keenan said.
A scene from 'My Mother's Three Mothers,' on stage by Lost Nation Theater May 25-June 11. Photo by Wayne Fawbush
Cast members are founding Artistic Director Kim Allen Bent, Sorsha Anderson, Alexa Kartschoke, Susan Palmer, and Eric Warwick. Other members of the creative team are: movement and choreographic consultants Taryn Noelle and Kimberly Ward; Charlene Sroka handling costumes; Jacob Sikorski designing lighting and projections; Kelly Daigneault creating the dreamscape scenic environment; Andrew Vachon on sound design, and stage manager Caroline Saltz.
Ward calls the play a “story about love, loss, and figuring out how to reconcile the two inconsolable points of the reality of life: We can’t control our pasts or what happened to us, but we can choose to live in hope, and trust in those we love, now.”
Lost Nation Theater encourages audience members to wear masks, although it is not required. Montpelier’s City Hall Arts Center theater uses a state-of-the-art Bio-Defense Air Purification Synexis System.
Dates and times: Thursdays through Sundays, May 25-June 11; 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. on Sundays.
Tickets: $10-30 depending on date and type, available online, by phone and at the box office. More information: lostnationtheater.org, or 802-229-0492 and email info@lostnationtheater.org.