The Autism Mamalogues – From the Heart of One Who Knows….

By Ernest Kearney  —  There is a great deal of love and passion that has gone into Shannon Penrod’s one woman show The Autism Mamalogues; which is understandable as she is a self-described “Autism Mom.”

The show starts in her childhood, as a little girl afraid of getting “farm wife arm” when she grew up, where from elbow to chest there would dangle “a Jell-O mold in a haunted house from hell.”

But it is the realization that something is wrong with a neighbor’s son… something that makes him different from the other children and something that the adults don’t speak of… that brings in a foreshadowing of things to come.

Penrod pulls out all the tricks she can in relating the slings and arrows that any parent faces when a child of theirs has special needs.

She and director Therese McLaughlin use video segments to good ends— mocking the bureaucrats one must face in seeking any federal or state support—as a game show that checks the contestants for Autism awareness, with Penrod fulfilling multiple roles.

Silver Medal (via The TVolution)At the conclusion, Penrod fashions the show into a heartfelt thank you to CARD (the Center for Autism and Related Disorders), the program and its personnel that

has been of such benefit to her and her son.

A little rough around the edges, yes, but a show of great heart.

A SILVER MEDAL.

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The Autism Mamalogues

Played During the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2018

For More Information about the play go to:

http://hff18.org/5369

or

http://autismmamalogues.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thetvolution/

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Written by

An award-winning L.A. playwright and rabble-rouser of note who has hoisted glasses with Orson Welles, been arrested on three continents and once beat up Charlie Manson. His first play, "Among the Vipers" was a semi-finalist in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition and was featured in the Carnegie-Mellon Showcase of New Plays. It was produced at the NPT Theater in Ashland, Oregon and Los Angeles’ celebrated Odyssey Ensemble Theatre. His following play, “The Little Boy Who Loved Monsters” was produced at The Hollywood Actors Theater, where he earned praise from the Los Angeles Times for his “…inordinately creative writing.” The play went on to numerous other productions including Berlin’s The Black Theatre under the direction of Rainer Fassbinder who wrote in his program notes of Kearney, “He is a skilled playwright, but more importantly he is a dangerous one.” Ernest Kearney has worked as literary manager or as dramaturge for among others The Hudson Theater Guild, Nova Diem and the Odyssey Ensemble Theatre, where he still serves on the play selection committee. He has been the recipient of two Dramalogue Awards and a finalist or semi-finalist, three times, in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition. His work has been performed by Michael Dunn, Sandra Tsing Loh, Jack Colvin and Billy Bob Thornton, and to date, either as playwright or director, he has upwards of a hundred and thirty productions under his belt, including a few at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater as puppeteer. Kearney remains focused on his writing, as well as living happily ever after with his lovely wife Marlene. His stage reviews and social essays can be found at TheTVolution.com and workingauthor.com. Follow him on Facebook.

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