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ELIZABETH PEAVEY'S 3:7H/03B6 >3/D3G¸A "MY MOTHER'S CLOTHES ¾;G ;=B63@¸A 1:=B63A ARE NOT MY MOTHER" /@3 <=B ;G ;=B63@œ WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday E63<( % ^ [ Ac\ROg and Monday O\R ;]\ROg WHERE: St. Lawrence E63@3( Ab :Oe`S\QS Arts Center, 76 /`ba 1S\bS` %$ Congress St., 1]\U`Saa Ab Portland >]`bZO\R HOW MUCH: $15; $12 6=E ;C16( #) for seniors, students T]` aS\W]`a abcRS\ba INFO: 7<4=( stlawrencearts.org abZOe`S\QSO`ba ]`U
1]c`bSag ^V]b] Courtesy photo
Ă&#x160;Dp Dfk_\iĂ&#x2039;j :cfk_\jĂ&#x2039; Zfm\ij 'My Mother's Clothes' covers cfkj f] \dfk`feXc ^ifle[ lots of emotional ground By BOB KEYES #Z #0# ,&:&4 4UBGG 8SJUFS StaffWriter
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DVRQ H 6 all 2011 Season O O D )
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Fall 2011 Bout S c h e d u l e 2FWREHU # " #
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For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit
www. MaineRollerDerby. c o m
made sense to her. NBEF TFOTF UP IFS The result is "My Mother's Clothes Are 5IF SFTVMU JT i.Z .PUIFS T $MPUIFT "SF Not My Mother." /PU .Z .PUIFS w The piece gets to the core of losing a 5IF QJFDF HFUT UP UIF DPSF PG MPTJOH B parent and the process of sorting through QBSFOU BOE UIF QSPDFTT PG TPSUJOH UISPVHI belongings afterward. Peavey uses her CFMPOHJOHT BGUFSXBSE 1FBWFZ VTFT IFS mother's possessions, including her NPUIFS T QPTTFTTJPOT JODMVEJOH IFS clothes and household items, as props. DMPUIFT BOE IPVTFIPME JUFNT BT QSPQT "These things take on added meaning i5IFTF UIJOHT UBLF PO BEEFE NFBOJOH after the person is gone," she said. BGUFS UIF QFSTPO JT HPOF w TIF TBJE As the piece opens in January 2010, "T UIF QJFDF PQFOT JO +BOVBSZ Peavey is dealing with her mom's things. 1FBWFZ JT EFBMJOH XJUI IFS NPN T UIJOHT From there, she takes the audience on a 'SPN UIFSF TIF UBLFT UIF BVEJFODF PO B journey back in time as she tells the story KPVSOFZ CBDL JO UJNF BT TIF UFMMT UIF TUPSZ of her relationship with her mom, her PG IFS SFMBUJPOTIJQ XJUI IFS NPN IFS mom's physical decline and her eventual NPN T QIZTJDBM EFDMJOF BOE IFS FWFOUVBM death. EFBUI The piece is peppered with humor, but 5IF QJFDF JT QFQQFSFE XJUI IVNPS CVU does not gloss over the difficult aspects of EPFT OPU HMPTT PWFS UIF EJGmDVMU BTQFDUT PG the mother-daughter relationship or the UIF NPUIFS EBVHIUFS SFMBUJPOTIJQ PS UIF emotional turmoil that Peavey experiFNPUJPOBM UVSNPJM UIBU 1FBWFZ FYQFSJ enced following her death. "I thought I FODFE GPMMPXJOH IFS EFBUI i* UIPVHIU * was ready for this," she confessed. "But XBT SFBEZ GPS UIJT w TIF DPOGFTTFE i#VU every grief is different, and this knocked FWFSZ HSJFG JT EJGGFSFOU BOE UIJT LOPDLFE the stuffing right out of me." UIF TUVGmOH SJHIU PVU PG NF w In addition to her writing career with *O BEEJUJPO UP IFS XSJUJOH DBSFFS XJUI various Maine publications, Peavey has WBSJPVT .BJOF QVCMJDBUJPOT 1FBWFZ IBT taught public speaking at the University UBVHIU QVCMJD TQFBLJOH BU UIF 6OJWFSTJUZ of Southern Maine and served as guest PG 4PVUIFSO .BJOF BOE TFSWFE BT HVFTU lecturer on creative nonfiction at UniverMFDUVSFS PO DSFBUJWF OPOmDUJPO BU 6OJWFS sity of Maine, Farmington. TJUZ PG .BJOF 'BSNJOHUPO Her latest book, "Glorious Slow Going: )FS MBUFTU CPPL i(MPSJPVT 4MPX (PJOH Maine Stories of Art, Friendship and .BJOF 4UPSJFT PG "SU 'SJFOETIJQ BOE Adventure," a collaboration with Maine "EWFOUVSF w B DPMMBCPSBUJPO XJUI .BJOF landscape painter Marguerite Robichaux, MBOETDBQF QBJOUFS .BSHVFSJUF 3PCJDIBVY is due out at the end of this year. JT EVF PVU BU UIF FOE PG UIJT ZFBS
PORTLAND â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Portland writer Eliza1035-"/% Â&#x2030; 1PSUMBOE XSJUFS &MJ[B beth Peavey returns to the stage for an enCFUI 1FBWFZ SFUVSOT UP UIF TUBHF GPS BO FO core of her one-woman performance "My DPSF PG IFS POF XPNBO QFSGPSNBODF i.Z Mother's Clothes Are Not My Mother." .PUIFS T $MPUIFT "SF /PU .Z .PUIFS w Peavey, an essayist and educator, wrote 1FBWFZ BO FTTBZJTU BOE FEVDBUPS XSPUF the piece after sorting through the belongUIF QJFDF BGUFS TPSUJOH UISPVHI UIF CFMPOH ings of her mother, Shirley, following her JOHT PG IFS NPUIFS 4IJSMFZ GPMMPXJOH IFS death in May 2009. She debuted the piece EFBUI JO .BZ 4IF EFCVUFE UIF QJFDF in August, selling out two shows at St. JO "VHVTU TFMMJOH PVU UXP TIPXT BU 4U Lawrence Arts Center in Portland. She re-BXSFODF "SUT $FOUFS JO 1PSUMBOE 4IF SF turns to the St. Lawrence for repeat perUVSOT UP UIF 4U -BXSFODF GPS SFQFBU QFS formances at 7 p.m. Sunday and Monday. GPSNBODFT BU Q N 4VOEBZ BOE .POEBZ "This is not a Hallmark special, and I i5IJT JT OPU B )BMMNBSL TQFDJBM BOE * am not portraying my mother as a hero," BN OPU QPSUSBZJOH NZ NPUIFS BT B IFSP w Peavey said. "It's honest, funny, difficult 1FBWFZ TBJE i*U T IPOFTU GVOOZ EJGmDVMU and poignant." BOE QPJHOBOU w Peavey is reluctant to call "My Mother's 1FBWFZ JT SFMVDUBOU UP DBMM i.Z .PUIFS T Clothes Are Not My Mother" a play. When $MPUIFT "SF /PU .Z .PUIFSw B QMBZ 8IFO she was younger, she fancied herself a TIF XBT ZPVOHFS TIF GBODJFE IFSTFMG B playwright, but her playwriting career QMBZXSJHIU CVU IFS QMBZXSJUJOH DBSFFS lasted all of one play. MBTUFE BMM PG POF QMBZ This is more of a memoir. She performs 5IJT JT NPSF PG B NFNPJS 4IF QFSGPSNT it in two acts, with props, talking directly JU JO UXP BDUT XJUI QSPQT UBMLJOH EJSFDUMZ to the audience in the first person. "People UP UIF BVEJFODF JO UIF mSTU QFSTPO i1FPQMF still like to go listen to people talk," she TUJMM MJLF UP HP MJTUFO UP QFPQMF UBML w TIF said. TBJE For Peavey, these performances do not 'PS 1FBWFZ UIFTF QFSGPSNBODFT EP OPU represent a cathartic experience; she has SFQSFTFOU B DBUIBSUJD FYQFSJFODF TIF IBT worked through most of her grief. But she XPSLFE UISPVHI NPTU PG IFS HSJFG #VU TIF suspects her performance may provide a TVTQFDUT IFS QFSGPSNBODF NBZ QSPWJEF B cathartic outlet for people in the audience. DBUIBSUJD PVUMFU GPS QFPQMF JO UIF BVEJFODF Especially among people her age - Peavey &TQFDJBMMZ BNPOH QFPQMF IFS BHF o 1FBWFZ is 52 - a lot of people are experiencing the JT o B MPU PG QFPQMF BSF FYQFSJFODJOH UIF death of a parent or learning to cope with EFBUI PG B QBSFOU PS MFBSOJOH UP DPQF XJUI loss. MPTT Her writing process began when she Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 )FS XSJUJOH QSPDFTT CFHBO XIFO TIF AbOTT E`WbS` 0]P 9SgSa QO\ PS Q]\bOQbSR Ob %' $"#% tucked herself away in Bethel for two or at: UVDLFE IFSTFMG BXBZ JO #FUIFM GPS UXP ]` Ob( weeks. She unloaded all of her emotions, bkeyes@pressherald. com XFFLT 4IF VOMPBEFE BMM PG IFS FNPUJPOT PYSgSa.^`SaaVS`OZR Q][ and then distilled them into a format that Twitter: pphbkeyes BOE UIFO EJTUJMMFE UIFN JOUP B GPSNBU UIBU BeWbbS`( ^^VPYSgSa