Entertainment :: Theatre
Jeffrey Solomon on "MotherSON" by David Foucher
EDGE PublisherWednesday Aug 2, 2006Jeffrey Soloman is sitting in a Provincetown coffee house talking about the one-man show that has - over nearly ten years of performances - touched the lives of numerous parents through their gay children.
"People see their parents in this story," he explains, "or they hold it up as an ideal. They wish they could communicate with their parents like this. I do the show, and then I’ll get emails from people who saw the show, who then go home and call their Moms and Dads to talk more about this part of their lives. That’s the great part of doing this show."
He’s talking about "MotherSON," an autobiographical play about the evolving relationship between a twenty-something Jewish gay man and his mother. The play has performed across the country, in New York, Washington DC, Chicago, SanDiego, Philadelphia and more.
It’s accolades, to Soloman, mean less than the fact that the show continually brings to life his mother, who passed away in 1994.
"My mother and I used to have a constant communications," he laughs. "Her calls never came as just one, they always came in a miniseries, and the show makes me remember that way we communicated. The coming out journey was remarkable for her, from acceptance, to tolerating it but not really understanding, to coming fully around. I wanted to dramatize that, because it occurred to me that the parent’s journey is a unique coming out journey in itself."
The show blends comedy and drama, with Soloman playing both himself and his Mom via changing facial expressions, physicality and voice; he’ll admit that the spine of the story is somewhat fictionalized, but he’ll also point out that its heart is absolutely true.
"It’s inspired by true events, but it’s not an attempt to be precise," he clarifies. "Much of the play is from my life, and a lot of details are now. It’s not a first-person confessional. This tells a story."
"Parents are often left behind this way. And it forces them to make uncomfortable decisions." In the writing of "MotherSON," however, Solomon says that he heard his Mom’s voice quite clearly.
"This mother character - her sense of humor, her stubbornness, that’s my Mom," he states. "I really found that if I listen that I could still hear my Mom, and writing these sections - I don’t want to sound pretentious - but it was very much like channeling."
He also freely asserts that he was completely inspired by her; Solomon came out in New York City, but his mother stayed behind, continuing to live in a conservative town.
"Parents are often left behind this way," he reminds me. "And it forces them to make uncomfortable decisions. My mom was never afraid to talk about anything with me, even sex - the stuff that might make ME uncomfortable. There’s a scene in the play where she confronts the homophobia of her friends - not by choice, but because she had no choice. In a way, her coming out journey was braver than mine."
The result of that work, according to Solomon, is an artistic work that, when played on the stage, keeps his Mom very much alive.
"She is right there with me on stage. And the audience responds to her," he nods.
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"MotherSON" plays at the UU Meeting House through August 21st. For tickets, call 508-487-9793. Tickets are $20.
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