Play4Keeps Podcast | Free full play: THE WORST MOTHER IN THE WORLD by Kari Bentley-Quinn
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In THE WORST MOTHER IN THE WORLD, new mom Nina has a healthy baby boy, a loving husband… and is struggling with terrifying nightmares and anxiety attacks. Her therapist, Bonnie, is trying to help her discover how she can be a better mother to her infant son. In the meantime, Bonnie’s estranged daughter, Mary, arrives home with some life-changing news. When Nina and Mary become friends, Bonnie’s professional and personal lives get a lot more complicated.
Featuring the cast of Marie-Claire Erdynast, Tamra Mathias, and Erica Sullivan, with stage directions read by Eric Poppick.
“Motherhood and pregnancy are fascinating to me on a physical and psychological level,” says playwright Kari Bentley-Quinn. “While I have no plans to have children of my own, I find that–like much of what I write about–I am drawn to things that scare me. Women so often face harsh consequences for behaving in ways counter to what is expected by society, and this play is meant to illustrate that.”
Learn more about this play on our website: https://ashlandnewplays.org/play/the-worst-mother-in-the-world/
Kari Bentley-Quinn lives in New York City, originally from the little coast town of Stratford, CT. Her plays have been presented at or developed with Lark Play Development Center, Lesser America, The Brick Theater, The Secret Theatre, The One Minute Play Festival, Pace University, Caps Lock Theater, Effable Arts, NYMadness, Team Awesome Robot, Packawallop Productions, Artemisia Theater, and more.
Kari is a winner at ANPF 2020 for her play HYANNIS. Other full length plays include THE PERMANENT NIGHT (2008 FringeNYC award winner); PAPER CRANES (Backstage Critic’s Pick); THE UNLIKELY ASCENT OF SYBIL STEVENS (Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist); THE OCEAN THOUGHT NOTHING (2014 O’Neill Conference Finalist); PREPARED (Kilroy’s List Honorable Mention); and, WENDY AND THE NECKBEARDS (The Relentless Award Honorable Mention).
Kari is a co-founder of Mission to (dit)Mars, a theater company based in Queens, New York City. As part of the company, Kari is a leader of the Propulsion Lab, a bi-weekly writers group that supports emerging playwrights, as well as the Launch Pad Reading Series, which gives plays written in the lab their first public readings. Alongside her fellow co-founders, Kari has facilitated the development of more than 30 new plays, many of which have been produced all over the country as well as internationally.
Kari has been a finalist for the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Leah Ryan FEWW Prize, The Playwrights Realm, and the Public Theater Emerging Writers Group, and was a nominee for the Doric Wilson Playwriting Award. Kari was the winner of the Rita and Burton Goldberg Award at Hunter College, where she got her MFA under Tina Howe, Mark Bly, and Arthur Kopit.
Listen to Kari in conversation on the podcast with friend and fellow ANPF winner Callie Kimball about their 2020 work and experiences as well as a conversation with Marie-Claire Erdynast from 2019 where they discuss THE WORST MOTHER IN THE WORLD.
Kari Bentley-Quinn and Callie Kimball: https://ashlandnewplays.org/play4keeps-podcast-angry-funny-and-angry-sad-a-conversation-with-kari-bentley-quinn-and-callie-kimball/
Kari Bentley-Quinn and Marie-Claire Erdynast: https://ashlandnewplays.org/play4keeps-podcast-reflecting-experience-through-theatre-kari-bentley-quinn-and-marie-claire-erdynast/