It might surprise you to hear that first rehearsal is my favorite part of any Listen to Your Mother Twin Cities season.
But it’s true!
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
I mean, it’s hard to beat the magic of auditions, because Vikki and I get to hear all the stories and are, for sure, the lucky ones in that scenario.
And it’s REALLY hard to beat the magic of show night, because well, it’s SHOW NIGHT.
But in my book, it’s first rehearsal that wins it all magic-wise.
Every. Single. Time.
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
First rehearsal is when 12 — or in this case, 13! — women come to the table to share this ONE story about this ONE time and begin to thread that story with each other’s.
It’s when we go from I to us.
From mine to ours.
From my story to all of our collective story.
It’s where the magic happens.
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
And while this post is about our Summer Pandemic Alumni show, this holds true every show season.
The formula is air tight.
You can FEEL these roots begin to thread.
Because when we share our stories with the purpose of connecting, we end up doing just that.
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
A week ago we had the first rehearsal for our summer show.
We got to see 13 women come to the table to tell their stories of motherhood during the pandemic.
And we listened to them and laughed and cried with them — intensely …
… Because ohmygoodness, our alumni are so ridiculously talented!
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
And what we also got to see was each cast mate reacting to each other’s story.
There’s magic inside every laugh and tear and mmhmm.
It’s also the closest we can get to how YOU will feel on show day!
And we saw EXACTLY what we were hoping for.
Stories threading us together.
Because THAT’S what it’s all about.
Image Credit: Ann Marie Photography
Well, that and those soul filling belly laughs and crocodile tears and LTYM “me, toos!”
But for these 13 amazing storytellers, this is also the moment when they became a cast.
Image credit: Ann Marie Photography
And it’s the moment when they took one step closer to being ready to share this whole beautiful, messy, HILARIOUS, and tissue-worthy show with you.
And now that we’ve seen this all play out, we can say without a doubt that we’re all so excited to do just that!
We can’t wait to see you at the show!
ABOUT THE SHOW
Now affectionately known as LTYM, Listen to Your Mother is a series of live, on-stage readings across North America.
The mission of each LTYM show is to give voice to motherhood – the good, the bad, the ugly, the sad, the hilarious, the golden, and of course, the beautiful – in the form of original stories read live on-stage by their authors.
We're beyond thrilled to host the 16th LTYM Twin Cities show and kick off the 11th year of storytelling in the Twin Cities!
We’ll see you at the show!
