Cheers, Mom! Eulogy For A Living Parent
Written & Performed by Candice Fox
Under St. Marks | 94 St. Mark's Place, New York, NY 10009
May 9th, 11th, 16th & 17th
It’s Mother’s Day weekend. A complicated holiday at the best of times. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for celebrating motherhood. I’ve celebrated it for the first “eh-eh” years of my life, and I’ve avoided it for the last ten - since my mother passed. Diagnosed with Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer, the last years of her life were an endless loop of the 5 stages of grief. Candice Fox’s Eulogy for a Living Parent recognizes that this cycle of grief isn’t just for the dead. It is definitely an option for “dead to me”.
As you enter, home movies play on the screen. A beautiful bride at the height of her joy dances with her new husband juxtaposed with a little girl playing with other kids with a definite sadness about her. Just to the left of the screen is a portrait of the bride later in life next to flowers and candles. As Candice takes the stage clad in black, a true eulogy begins. Through the course of the play, with its highs and lows, she carries this thread of sadness, a deep sorrow that she carries through her life around her relationship with her mother. If you lose someone to alcoholism, is it really any different to losing them to cancer?
As a writer, Candice has perfectly structured the performance. We gleefully ride the roller coaster with her through the twists and turns of her tale. Combined with dance, a truly spectacular element, video and projections, what could be a piece solidly stuck in the past is really about finding the future. She isn’t afraid of facing sorrow while looking for joy. Her work is brave and therapeutic, witty and wicked, and strikingly honest. And a perfect way to spend Mother’s Day – though perhaps not with your mother!
Click HERE for tickets.
Review by Nicole Jesson.
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on May 12th, 2025. All rights reserved.