EDISON – There’s a lot to say about motherhood.
And as Mother’s Day approaches, Lauren Cohn, Kathy Busch, Janet Alder Suss and Dawn Valovcin are bringing “Listen To Your Mother” (LTYM), a nationally syndicated event, to the local community on May 7.
“In the spring of 2019, Kathy and I attended a production of ‘Listen To Your Mother’ to support a friend who was chosen to read,” Cohn said. “Neither of us were familiar with the event, but we were blown away by everything about the evening and knew we had to bring the Ann Imig production to Metuchen/Edison. Our local community is filled with incredible people who we knew had something to say about motherhood, and we wanted to hear it all.”
Together with Temple Emanu-El as the show’s sponsor, they were able to secure the theatrical license for the Central New Jersey area, and initially planned the inaugural show for May 2020.
“The pandemic put our plans on hold, but we are thrilled to be able to go on with the show this year,” Cohn said.
For the show’s inaugural year, they have invited readers to make sure they have a good representation of the larger community. In the future, they will be having auditions for the readers, Suss said.
Ann Imig founded LTYM with a show at the Barrymore Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin, on Mother’s Day 2010. She and 11 other local writers read their original true stories of motherhood before an audience of 300 people, according to the show’s website.
The show became an instant sensation via creative online women, growing into a grassroots phenomenon spanning 50-plus cities and 250 productions across North America, an acclaimed anthology from Putnam Books and a charitable giving movement, which raised over $140,000 for nonprofit causes supporting women and families in need, according to the website.
The goal of every LTYM production is to take the audience on a well-crafted 90-minute journey of diverse true stories about motherhood – being a mom, having a mom, losing a mom, finding a mom, according to the website.
The show, which will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the JFK Conference Center, 70 James St., is directed by Lisa Hyman and produced by Cohn, Busch, Suss and Volovcin.
Readers include, Melissa Schilowitz; Cher Krumins-Beens; Danny Adlerman; Khalila Cruz; Laurie LeFever; Mike Regan; Jane Brodman; April Salazar; Angela Sielski; Reena Wade and Diana Callinan.
At the show, they will be collecting donations of feminine products and new women’s clothing for the Ozanam Shelter in Edison.
For ticket information, visit www.edisontemple.org/event/listen-to-your-mother.html. For more information about LTYM visit listentoyourmothershow.com.