Mothers

by Anna Ouyang Moench

Three moms, a stay-at-home dad, and a nanny watch their kids play at Mommy-Baby Meetup. One mom is the queen bee and one is here to shake things up. The dad just wants to fit in, and the nanny doesn’t say a word. When catastrophe comes, the five of them have to figure out how to survive a war and each other. MOTHERS examines the primal heartache of raising children in a disintegrating world.

Three moms, a stay-at-home dad, and a nanny watch their kids play at Mommy-Baby Meetup. One mom is the queen bee and one is here to shake things up. The dad just wants to fit in, and the nanny doesn’t say a word. When catastrophe comes, the five of them have to figure out how to survive a war and each other. MOTHERS examines the primal heartache of raising children in a disintegrating world.

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Mothers

Recommended by

  • Shana Laski: Mothers

    Moench is making huge waves with her bold, unapologetic, and structure-shattering plays, almost always centering the experiences of women of color. Her plays utilize an element of surrealness that brings the severity of the plot to a heightened level, made digestible in its horror by her choices in nonrealism. She is masterful at building dynamic groups of characters who must all interact at once, something which can be very hard in larger casts that spend a lot of time onstage all together. Mothers in particular is a triumph in form, narrative, and emotional impact.

    Moench is making huge waves with her bold, unapologetic, and structure-shattering plays, almost always centering the experiences of women of color. Her plays utilize an element of surrealness that brings the severity of the plot to a heightened level, made digestible in its horror by her choices in nonrealism. She is masterful at building dynamic groups of characters who must all interact at once, something which can be very hard in larger casts that spend a lot of time onstage all together. Mothers in particular is a triumph in form, narrative, and emotional impact.

  • Cheryl Bear: Mothers

    The funniest and most accurate capture of the competitive nature of motherhood that takes the war to hilarious heights. Well done!

    The funniest and most accurate capture of the competitive nature of motherhood that takes the war to hilarious heights. Well done!

  • Evalena Lakin: Mothers

    MOTHERS shook me to my very core. The world Moench has constructed (the reversal of the racial hierarchy, the playful absurdity of teddy bears as human children, the obscurity of this society's decline into dystopia) is one of the most unique and compelling I've ever read. I love that we're not given all the answers and are trusted to put many of the pieces of this puzzle together ourselves. I love the strong, messy, flawed women that make up this alternate reality. I love love love this play.

    MOTHERS shook me to my very core. The world Moench has constructed (the reversal of the racial hierarchy, the playful absurdity of teddy bears as human children, the obscurity of this society's decline into dystopia) is one of the most unique and compelling I've ever read. I love that we're not given all the answers and are trusted to put many of the pieces of this puzzle together ourselves. I love the strong, messy, flawed women that make up this alternate reality. I love love love this play.

View all 13 recommendations

Development History

  • Type Workshop, Organization UCSD, Year 2018
  • Type Workshop, Organization Kennedy Center MFA Playwrights Workshop, Year 2018
  • Type Reading, , Year 2018

Production History