Amy Wilson's One-Woman Show 'Mother Load' To Begin National Tour

The critically acclaimed off-Broadway production of Amy Wilson's one-woman show MOTHER LOAD is embarking on a National Tour. Originally slated for a 7 week run in New York City in May 2007, MOTHER LOAD ran for 9 weeks to sold-out houses. After seeing the show, The Road Company knew that MOTHER LOAD belonged on the road. The tour will premiere in Charlotte, NC on September 30th at 7:30 pm, as the inaugural production at the Studio Theater (101 N. College Street Charlotte, NC 28202).

"The response has been remarkable," author Wilson comments. "I thought I was the only one who ran myself ragged and still had a house that looked like the town dump. I thought I was the only one with a voice in my head saying 'Don't be happy! Worry!' But the audiences who have seen this show--women and men, parents, and not, perfectionists all--said they were a lot like me: racked with guilt over all the things we won't, in a million years, have time to do anything about, except feel bad. I can't wait to meet audiences all over this country and spread the message: lose the 'Mother Load,' and remember how to enjoy your kids."

Written by Amy Wilson and directed by Julie Kramer, MOTHER LOAD is a hilarious exposé of the mom-eat-mom world of competitive parenting. While it's never been easy to be a mother, today's demands for perfection turn the stress up to a whole new level.

The show is based on Wilson's own experience as the mother of three children under five. Despite her best efforts, Wilson found herself caught up in the pressure-cooker environment of modern motherhood, where a toddler's birthday party must be catered, the "right" stroller costs eight hundred dollars, and nursery school applications require thoughtful essay writing. From prenatal yoga to the perils of nursing, MOTHER LOAD is an exposé of the fruitless and ever-challenging quest to be the perfect mom.

Anyone who has fed their kids dinosaur chicken nuggets three times this week will identify with Wilson's guilt, and cheer as she frees herself from it. You'll love MOTHER LOAD whether you are a mom -- or just have one!

For production photos, reviews, clips from the show, and other information, visit the official MOTHER LOAD website at www.motherloadshow.com.

BIOGRAPHIES

AMY WILSON (playwright) was a series regular on the sitcoms Norm (ABC) with Norm MacDonald, and Daddio (NBC) with Michael Chiklis, and had a recurring role on Felicity. She has also appeared on Ed, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Deadline, Boston Common, and All My Children. Her film credits include Kinsey, Kissing Jessica Stein, Keeping the Faith, and Ira and Abby.

On stage, Amy appeared on Broadway in the Tony-Award-winning play The Last Night of Ballyhoo. Other New York theater credits include Hobson's Choice, Hamlet, Young Goodman Brown, Manhattan Casanova with Mercedes Ruehl, and Memory Play with Eli Wallach. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University.

Amy is also the author of three other one-woman shows. A Cookie Full of Arsenic: My Life as a Femme Fatale was featured at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. She also worked as a sketch comedy writer and performer with LIVE ON TAPE. That group developed a sketch comedy show for NBC, which was shot in Saturday Night Live's studios.

But her favorite productions are her three children (ages 5, 4 and 1), whom she raises with her husband, David Flannery, in New York City.

JULIE KRAMER (director) recently directed the new plays BabyLove and None of the Above Off-Broadway. Last December, Julie was the recipient of a Special Project Grant to direct a workshop production of Hillary, about Hillary Clinton, at The Public Theater.

She has directed new plays and musicals at New Georges, 45 Bleecker, HERE Contemporary Arts Center, Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, and the New York Fringe Festival in New York; The O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut; the Uno Festival in Victoria, Canada; the Mesto Zensk Festival of Contemporary Art in Ljubljana, Slovenia; and three shows for the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen (including Amy Wilson's A Cookie Full of Arsenic).

She also directed a showcase for ABC/TV and several productions at NYU/Strasberg. Julie was a Young Director in Residence at Ensemble Studio Theatre and the dramaturg for the Off-Broadway musical The Joys of Sex. She's an honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and a member of SSDC.

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