Ready to go!

The installation is up, newspaper article published, the shirts, books, and tickets are on sale, and we've done our last rehearsal before the filming and public performance. So... here we go!!

Shirts are available to buy at BC Playthings in North Vancouver, Phoenix on Bowen, and at the Gallery in Artisan Square. The book is available to buy online, and on the MAMA project website, in the "media" section.

Two weeks to Go!

Only two weeks until the superMAMA performance, and I just feel totally energized, and thrilled to be working with this group of passionate and gifted women. Not only are they extremely talented, but they are all endlessly compassionate, patient with me and my many foibles, and committing an extraordinary amount of time and energy to this project, for which none of us are receiving a penny. It never was about money, though, of course -- just the fun of it, and I must say it IS fun! For some of the pieces it is going to be extremely difficult to continue singing while certain bizarre and hilarious activities are going on in shadow, behind me. Well we have a few rehearsals, before the show, so hopefully we can get our sillies out a bit, by then. :--))

...still painting...

99% of my time is now filled with the management of this show; the t-shirt printing, promo materials, proposals, etc. And phoning. SO much phoning! No wonder people have managers!! But last night I did paint another sheet; here's the main detail:

New Website!

The MAMA Project website is now live. It will grow as the project does. First changes to expect: press page (links to articles/etc.), more tour dates as the venues & dates are confirmed, and more photos/videos as I get them together. So here's the site! Do tell your friends about it!

MAMA Project

To Free or not to Free?

Originally my plan was to make all parts of the show (performance, installation, and conversation) free for everyone, as a means of enabling everyone to attend, regardless of his/her financial situation. However, over the past couple of months, enough people have advised me to at least charge a bit for the performance, that I am beginning to reconsider.
For the performance, only.

The reasons people advise this are mostly either as a means of recouping some money or as a means of predicting/gaging/distributing the audience. We're also considering doing a second Bowen-performance, now. Basically, if people have paid, there is a greater chance that they actually will come, when they planned to, and also that we can predict numbers, and gage whether a second show is a good idea.

So right now I'm thinking 5$/ticket. Tell me what you think.

13-way sound projection

One of my goals for this project is to 13-direction sound going in the installation-venue. Then the voices of the mothers will come from more than 2 points, and the random thoughts will come from random parts of the space. If you have suggestions on how to make this work, I'd be happy to hear them. All the schemes I've thought of so far have been pretty complicated!

Why 13? Because it's a prime number, which would throw any perceived balance (predictability) off, fill the room with sound-points, and accentuate the feeling of randomness, and therefore the "everywoman" idea. Also, there are usually 13 moons in a calendar year, 13 menstrual cycles, and therefore 13 cycles of a woman's potential to become a mother.

Working with these women.

While filming and interviewing the daughters, mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers who participated in my project, I was struck every time by the amazing compassion and grace we all have, inherently, and how much self-discovery comes out of just openly talking about our experiences of being a daughter and mother.

Now, as I edit the voices of the mothers, clipping out interesting bits of ideas to broadcast into the room with the portraits, I am amazed, again. We are so wise!! Every single person - even the one whose son was so busy and intent on distracting her that I got only 2 audible phrases out of the interview - had something of deep wisdom to say. The importance of this project has always been to give voice to mothers, and hence support, as we find our community in a sharing space: the embrace of other mothers. But increasingly I see its broader cultural importance as a means to become a more free-thinking, conscious society. And by "us" I don't mean Canadians or even North Americans. I mean people everywhere. When we open our hearts to the joy of our own significance in the world, we open the vast realm of possibility for what we will acheive in our lives. We stop criticizing ourselves, and hoping desperately that no harm comes to our children, and instead we live in the courageous knowledge that our children carry on our own joy and inspiration to create for themselves the beautiful world we are leaving them.

"I'm who I am, and it took me a long time, but I like me." -- one of the hundreds of voice-clips from the installation.