Plays and Musicals Featuring Strong Mother Figures

From stern and ruthless to loving and warm, the mothers in these plays and musicals showcase a wide range of passions and challenges – but there is one trait they all share. Explore this selection of Concord Theatricals shows featuring strong mother figures.

Plays

A Daughter’s a Daughter by Agatha Christie (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 4m)
Role(s): Ann Prentice, a mother falling in love again, much to the disdain of her daughter, Sarah.
Synopsis: The love between a mother and daughter turns to jealousy and bitterness in this intense and personal drama when Ann Prentice falls in love with Richard Caulfield and hopes for a new life and happiness. Resentment slowly corrodes their relationship as each seeks comfort in the formidable and knowing Dame Laura Whitstable who remarks, “the trouble with sacrifice is that once its made its not over and done with.”

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 7m, 1 boy)
Role(s): Lena Younger, aka Mama.
Synopsis: Lorraine Hansberry’s groundbreaking drama, a searing and timeless portrait of a family on Chicago’s South Side, is an American classic. The play concerns the divergent dreams and conflicts in three generations of the Younger family: son Walter Lee, his wife Ruth, his sister Beneatha, his son Travis, and matriarch Lena. Hansberry’s portrait of one family’s struggle to retain dignity in a harsh and changing world is a searing and timeless document of hope and inspiration.

A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney (UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 3m)
Role(s): Jo’s mother, played by the actress who plays Jo.
Synopsis: Teenage heroine Jo is deserted by her nagging, peroxided mother, who is unaware that her daughter is pregnant. To soothe, clean and cook for her is Geof, an effeminate art student, with whom she makes a temporary home. Bruised by insensitivity and rejection, they find comfort in each other until her mother returns to threaten this new life.

All My Sons by Arthur Miller (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 6m)
Role(s): Kate Keller, a nervous, emotional, superstitious woman who cares deeply about her family, wife of Joe, mother to Larry and Chris.
Synopsis: Respected, self-made businessman Joe Keller prides himself on providing for his wife and their two sons. When a business mistake from the past crops up again, accusations and revelations threaten the safety and happiness of the Keller family, raising questions of ethics, patriotism and personal responsibility.

Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 3m, 1 any gender youth)
Role(s): Antoinette “Toni” Lafayette, 40s to 50s, oldest sibling and mother to Rhys; Rachael Kramer-Lafayette, late 40s, wife to Bo and mother to Cassie and Ainsley; and River Rayner, the youngest Lafayette son Frank’s fiancé, early 20s but looks younger, pregnant.
Synopsis: In their family’s decaying plantation mansion, three adult children sort through a lifetime of hoarded mementos and junk as they collide over clutter, debt and a disturbing family history.

Artemisia by Lauren Gunderson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 2m)
Role(s): Artemisia Gentileschi, famous painter, mother to Prudenzia Figlia; and Prudenzia Madre, the kind and steady mother to Artemisia.
Synopsis: Teenage heroine Jo is deserted by her nagging, peroxided mother, who is unaware that her daughter is pregnant. To soothe, clean and cook for her is Geof, an effeminate art student, with whom she makes a temporary home. Bruised by insensitivity and rejection, they find comfort in each other until her mother returns to threaten this new life.

August: Osage County by Tracy Letts (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 6w, 6m, 1girl)
Role(s): Violet Weston, 65, the pill-popping matriarch of the Weston family; Barbara Fordham, her daughter, 46, mother to Jean, Ivy and Karen; and Mattie Fay Aiken, daughter of Violet, 57, mother to Little Charles Aiken.
Synopsis: Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play is a sweeping exploration of an American family and its legacy. When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunites after their father disappears, their Oklahoman family homestead explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets.  Mix in Violet, the drugged-up, scathingly acidic matriarch, and you’ve got a play that unflinchingly – and uproariously – exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family.

Birthday Candles by Noah Haidle (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 3m)
Role(s): Ernestine Ashworth, who travels from age seven to 107 and will be all kinds of mother figures in that time, and Alice, Ernestine’s selfless and strong mother.
Synopsis: Ernestine Ashworth spends her 17th birthday agonizing over her insignificance in the universe. Soon enough, it’s her 18th birthday. Even sooner, her 41st. Her 70th. Her 101st. Five generations, an infinity of dreams, and one cake baked over a century. This poignant and funny play takes its audience through the highlights, heartbreaks and extraordinary moments that make up one woman’s ordinary life.

Broadway Bound by Neil Simon (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 4m)
Role(s): Kate, mother to Eugene and Stanley, who is getting divorced from their father, Jack, after she discovers he has been cheating on her. The original actress, Linda Lavin, would go on to win the 1987 Tony Award for Best Actress for the part.
Synopsis: Part three of Neil Simon’s acclaimed autobiographical trilogy finds Eugene and his older brother Stanley trying to break into the world of show business as professional comedy writers while coping with their parents’ breakup and eventual divorce.

Charm by Philip Dawkins (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 3m, 3gnc)
Role(s): Mama Darleena Andrews, a 67-year-old Black, transgender woman and former nurse who mothers an entire community through her etiquette classes at Chicago’s LGBTQ community center, inspired by the real life Miss Gloria Allen.
Synopsis: When Mama Darleena Andrews takes it upon herself to teach an etiquette class at Chicago’s LGBTQ community center, the idealistic teachings of Emily Post clash with the very real-life challenges of identity, poverty and prejudice faced by her students. Inspired by the true story of Miss Gloria Allen and her work at Chicago’s Center on Halsted, Charm asks: How do we lift each other up when the world wants to tear us down?

Chicken & Biscuits by Douglas Lyons (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5w, 3m)
Role(s): Baneatta Mabry, an upstanding and stern Christian woman, mother to Kenny and Simone; and Beverly Jenkins, Baneatta’s younger sister and the “fun aunt,” mother to La’trice Franklin.
Synopsis: In this celebration of Black joy, grief and healing, an extended family is brought back to St. Luke’s Church to inter their patriarch, Bernard Jenkins. Family stressors abound as Beverly shows up to the chapel with her “blessings” on display, Baneatta’s son brings his neurotic Jewish boyfriend along and Beverly’s nosy daughter keeps asking questions no one wants to answer. Meanwhile, Baneatta’s husband Reginald tries to keep the peace. Told with warmth and delicacy, Chicken & Biscuits is a touching and often hilarious ode to the people in our lives we can’t choose.

Conversations with Mother by Matthew Lombardo (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 1w, 1m)
Role(s): Maria Collavechio, Italian-American mother of Bobby, plays ages 37-76.
Synopsis: Growing up isn’t easy – especially with a strong-willed, Italian-American mother keeping tabs on your every move. Free-spirited Bobby has a knack for getting into trouble, and his mother, Maria, never hesitates to offer her opinion, like it or lump it. Through learning curves, life’s complications and hard-won victories, their love for each other holds plenty of laughs and a few tears, but most importantly, never diminishes. An unsettling yet tender comedy that traces the relationship between an Italian-American mother and her son over the course of five decades.

cullud wattah by Erika Dickerson-Despenza (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w)
Role(s): Marion, a robust and weary third-generation assembly line worker and mother to Plum and Reesee; and Big Ma, the stern and churchy matriarch of the Cooper family who’s sweet in the middle, mother to Ainee and Marion.
Synopsis: Part meditation/call to action, part domestic drama, cullud wattah explores the effects of the Flint water crisis on a multi-generational family of Black women. Blending form and bending time, this poetic play dives deep into the poisonous choices of the outside world, the contamination within, and how we make the best choices for our families’ future when there are no real, present options.

Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 4w, 2m)
Role(s): Most of the characters in this play are parents on the board of Eureka Day School, meeting to develop and update their health policies. These include Suzanne, mid-5os, white, warm and gracious, mother to five; Carina, early 40s, Black or biracial, skilled at landing in a new environment, mother to Victor; Meiko, mid-30s, biracial Japanese/White (self-described as Hapa), Berkeley native with a wry sense of humor, single mother by choice to Olivia; and Winter, 30s to 50s, parent and person of color, a walk-on role with no lines.
Synopsis: Winner of the 2025 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play! The Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California, is a bastion of progressive ideals: representation, acceptance, social justice. When a mumps outbreak threatens the Eureka community, facts become subjective and every solution divisive as the board of five parents must develop and update the school’s health policies.

Familiar by Danai Gurira (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 5w, 3m)
Role(s): Marvelous Chinyaramwira (Mai Tendi), matriarch of a Zimbabwean family, as well as her sisters Margaret Munyewa (Mai Tongai) and Anne (Mai Carrol).
Synopsis: Marvelous and Donald, Zimbabwean emigrants in Minnesota, are preparing for the marriage of their eldest daughter, Tendi. But their graceful blend of Zimbabwean and American culture is disrupted when Marvelous’ sister insists on performing a traditional wedding ceremony in which the groom barters for the bride. Tensions flare, identities clash, and the family’s fabric slowly unravels as they take an honest look at who they truly are.

Fat Ham by James Ijames (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w, 4m)
Role(s): Tedra, Juicy’s mother, a good mother, a kind of Gertrude; and Rabby, Larry and Opal’s mother, semi-churchy but really just wants to drink and praise the Lord, a kind of Polonius.
Synopsis: Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames reinvents Shakespeare’s Hamlet with this delectable comic tragedy. Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid, already grappling with some serious questions of identity, when the ghost of his father shows up in their backyard, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder. Juicy’s mother, Tedra, a deliciously fascinating mass of contradictions, loves her son deeply but defers to her new husband, Rev. From their uproarious family barbecue emerges a compelling examination of love and loss, pain and joy.

Goldie, Max & Milk by Karen Hartman (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 4w, 1m)
Role(s): Max, a social worker and single lesbian mother in her 30s who just gave birth and has no clue how to nurse her newborn.
Synopsis: It’s 2009; Max is unemployed, her house is falling apart, and her ex, Lisa, is on the loose. On top of all that, she has no clue how to nurse her newborn baby. Can Goldie, an Orthodox Jewish lactation consultant, guide Max into motherhood? Or will conflicting family values get the better of them both? Goldie, Max & Milk is a play about cultural differences, motherhood and the many ways to love children.

God Said This by Leah Nanako Winkler (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 2m)
Role(s): Masako, a Japanese immigrant battling cancer with optimism and resilience, wife to James, mother to Hiro and Sophie.
Synopsis: When Masako is diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of uterine cancer, her dispersed family is brought back to their Kentucky hometown to care for her. Forced together in a time of need, five estranged people come face to face with their own mortality in this moving play with rich characters and written with wry, honest wit under extraordinary personal circumstances.

Kim’s Convenience by Ins Choi (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 3m)
Role(s): Umma (Mom), a 56-year-old 1st generation Korean-Canadian woman, mother of Janet and Jung.
Synopsis: Popularized by the CBC sitcom adaptation, Kim’s Convenience is dramatic comedy about a Korean-Canadian family who run a convenience store. A hilarious and heartwarming ode to generations of immigrants who have made Canada the country that it is.

Lettie by Boo Killebrew (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 4w, 2m)
Role(s): Lettie, a working-class mother, recently released from prison, working hard to do better by her kids.
Synopsis: Inspired by real Chicago stories, Lettie is a powerful, moving and funny play. After her release from prison, Lettie is desperate to regain custody of her teenage children. Training to be an iron welder, she will stop at nothing to reclaim her family and start life anew.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, adapted by various playwrights
(Full-Length Play, Drama / Various Versions below)
Role(s): Marmee, mother to the four March sisters.
Synopsis: Louisa May Alcott’s classic coming-of-age novel about the four March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy – details their passage from childhood to womanhood. Their mother, Marmee, is a strong, warm reminder of family and womanhood in every iteration.

Multiple adaptations of the play are available for licensing from Concord Theatricals:

• For a version well-suited for schools: Little Women (Full-Length) by Marisha Chamberlain (US) – also available in a One-Act Version (US)
• For an adaptation that’s most faithful to the novel: Little Women by Sheila Corbett (US/UK)
• For a refreshed, feminist-friendly spin with Jo at the center: Little Women by Kate Hamill (US)
• For a show-within-a-show version with hijinks galore: Magic Valley Community Theatre’s Little Women by Liza Birkenmeier and Trish Harnetiaux (US/UK)
• For an affecting, delightful adaptation accompanied by music from the period: Little Women by Jacqueline Goldfinger (US)
• For a fully-musical version: Little Women – Musical (Ravold) by Frederick Howard, Geoffrey O’Hara and John Ravold (US)

Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 3m)
Role(s): Mary Cavan Tyrone, 54, wife to James and mother to Jamie and Edmund.
Synopsis: At their summer home in Connecticut, each member of the Tyrone family harbors a personal tragedy while maintaining a complicated balance of love and resentment for the others. Father James’s alcoholism, mother Mary’s morphine addiction, younger son Edmund’s advancing illness and elder son Jamie’s bitterness at being a lesser version of his father. This autobiographical, Pulitzer Prize-winning exploration of addiction and familial dysfunction is widely regarded as O’Neill’s finest work.

Mary Jane by Amy Herzog (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w)
Role(s): Mary Jane, a woman in her thirties and mother to Alex, a chronically ill son, who finds community among caretakers across all walks of life.
Synopsis: As Mary Jane navigates both the mundane and the unfathomable realities of caring for Alex, her chronically ill young son, she finds herself building a community of women from many walks of life. Mary Jane is Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog’s remarkably powerful and compassionate portrait of a contemporary American woman striving for grace.

Marys Seacole by Jackie Sibblies Drury (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w)
Role(s): All of this women in this play are mother figures as they care for those in medical need, especially Mary Seacole, a Jamaican-American nurse during the Crimean War and May, an American businesswoman, exacting technician and mother who needs everyone to be better.
Synopsis: Born in 1805 Jamaica, Mary Seacole is determined to live an extraordinary life. As she travels across oceans and centuries, through a Jamaican hospital, a Crimean battlefront, a contemporary nursing home and everywhere in between, Mary moves through life with Herculean fortitude. But as her brazen spirit meets historical reality, Mary’s world explodes, splitting, multiplying and redefining her narrative. Based on the life of the famous nurse and entrepreneur, Marys Seacole is an examination of what it means to be a woman paid to care.

Morning Sun by Simon Stephens (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 6w)
Role(s): Three generations of women showcase how women move into different shades of motherhood across their lives, starting in the 1960s/1970s in Greenwich Village.
Synopsis: In Greenwich Village a generation or so ago, the city is alive. Joni Mitchell sings, friends and lovers come and go, and the regulars change at the White Horse Tavern. As fifty years pass, one woman’s life is revealed in all its complexity, mystery and possibility in this enthralling piece about mothers and daughters.

Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht
(Full-Length Play, Drama / Various Versions below)
Role(s): Mother Courage, a mother of three during wartime (and coveted theatrical role).
Synopsis: Brecht’s classic play follows Mother Courage and her three children during the Thirty Years’ War of the early 17th century as she pulls a wagon of wares through Sweden, Poland, Finland, Bavaria and Italy. Filled with hardship and tragedy, this tale of strength is considered by many to be the greatest anti-war play of all time.

These English translations of the play are available for licensing from Concord Theatricals:

• Version translated by Eric Bentley (US/UK)
• Version translated by David Hare (US/UK)
• Version translated by Lee Hall (UK)
• Version translated by Michael Hofmann and John Willett (UK)
• Version translated by Hanif Kureishi (UK)
• Version translated by Tony Kushner (UK)
• Version translated by Ralph Manheim (US/UK)
• Version translated by Robert David MacDonald (UK)
• Version translated by Peter Watson (UK)
• Version translated by John Willett (UK)

Mother of the Maid by Jane Anderson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 3m)
Role(s): Isabelle Arc, mother of Joan of Arc.
Synopsis: The story of Joan of Arc’s mother: a sensible, hard-working, God-fearing peasant woman whose faith is upended as she deals with the baffling journey of her odd and extraordinary daughter. This riveting play is an epic tale told through an unexpected and remarkable perspective.

Mother Play by Paula Vogel (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 1m)
Role(s): Phyllis Herman, ages 30 to late 70s/80s, mother to Carl and Martha.
Synopsis: It’s 1962, just outside of D.C., and matriarch Phyllis is supervising her teenage children as they move into a new apartment. Phyllis has strong ideas about what her children need to do and be to succeed, and woe to the child who finds their own path. Bolstered by gin and cigarettes, the family endures – or survives – the changing world around them. Blending flares of imaginative theatricality, surreal farce, and deep tenderness, Paula Vogel’s beautiful roller coaster ride reveals timeless truths of love, family and forgiveness.

Mothers and Sons by Terrence McNally (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w, 2m, 1 boy)
Role(s): Katherine Gerard, mother to Andrew Gerard who starts on an emotional journey after the death of her son.
Synopsis: A woman who pays an unexpected visit to the New York apartment of her late son’s partner, who is now married to another man and has a young son. This awkward reunion transforms into an emotional journey as she grapples with grief and the life her son may have led. Filled with tenderness and hope, this play is intensely resonant and deeply felt.

On Clover Road by Steven Dietz (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 2m)
Role(s): Kate Hunter, late 30s.
Synopsis: At an abandoned motel on a desolate American road, a mother meets with a cult de-programmer, believing she will be reunited with her runaway daughter. What happens instead – in this smart, harrowing, edge-of-your-seat thriller – is something that will shock her to her core. What will a mother do to get her daughter back? Whatever it takes.

Precious Little by Madeleine George (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy / 3w)
Role(s): Brodie, a pregnant soon-to-be mother and gifted linguist.
Synopsis: Brodie, a gifted linguist, learns unsettling news about the baby she carries. Unable to get comfort from her girlfriend, she finds it in the two least likely sources imaginable: the elderly speaker of a vanishing language… and a gorilla at the zoo. Madeleine George’s irreverent and charming new play reveals the beauty and the limits of human language.

Pride and Prejudice originally by Jane Austen, adapted by various playwrights
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / Various Versions below)
Role(s): Mrs. Bennet, 40s, a woman with a romantic heart and a devotion to securing advantageous matches for her daughters.
Synopsis: Jane Austen’s classic novel about the Bennet family and their five daughters – Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia – focuses on the romantic prospects of the spirited second-born daughter, Lizzie. Their mother, Mrs. Bennet, knows it is imperative the girls marry well and shows her dedication to her daughters’ well-being in her meddling motherly nature.

Multiple adaptations of the play are available for licensing from Concord Theatricals:

• For a one-act version well-suited for schools: Darcy and Elizabeth by Jon Jory (US)
• For an adaptation that’s most true to the book: Pride and Prejudice by Helen Jerome (US/UK)
• For fans of the 1995 BBC version and its vibrant energy: Pride and Prejudice by Andrew Davies (US/UK)
• For a version that’s bold, surprising, boisterous and timely (“not your grandmother’s Austen”): Pride and Prejudice by Kate Hamill (US/UK)
• For a musical option: Pride and Prejudice: A Romantic Musical by Jon Jory and Peter Ekstrom (US/UK) or First Impressions by Abe Burrows, Robert Goldman, Glenn Paxton and George Weiss (US)

Poor Yella Rednecks by Qui Nguyen (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 2w, 4m)
Role(s): Tong, Vietnamese-American, mother to the playwright, in both 1975 when she met her husband Quang and as present day.
Synopsis: In this funny, sexy and brash sequel to Vietgone, a young Vietnamese family attempts to put down roots in Arkansas, a place as different from home as it gets. Tong and Quang balance big hopes and low-wage jobs, as old flings threaten to pull them apart. It all makes for a bumpy road to the American dream. From the world of Nguyen’s Vietgone, with its comic book and action movie influences, comes a play that melds a deeply personal story with the playwright’s trademark, killer humor.

Porcelain by Margaret Perry (UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 2m, 1 any gender)
Role(s): Hat, 26, Irish, new mother.
Synopsis: Porcelain weaves past and present, myth and fact to explore the parallel stories of two Irish women. Tipperary, 1895: Bridget Cleary’s not feeling quite herself. Her husband believes she has been taken by fairies and a changeling left in her place, with devastating consequences. London, 2017: Hat is a new mother. She has a great life. So why does she want to disappear? The real-life tragedy of Bridget Cleary provides a harrowing backdrop to a modern-day thriller.

Ruined by Lynn Nottage (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 4w, 8m)
Role(s): Mama Nadi, owner of a popular bar and pool room who “mothers” the women she shelters there – but is this mothering kind or exploitative?
Synopsis: From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lynn Nottage comes this haunting, probing work about the resilience of the human spirit during times of war. Set in a small mining town in Democratic Republic of Congo, this powerful play follows Mama Nadi, a shrewd businesswoman in a land torn apart by civil war. But is she protecting or profiting by the women she shelters? How far will she go to survive? Can a price be placed on a human life?

Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 6w)
Role(s): M’Lynn Eatenton, socially prominent career woman and Shelby’s mother.
Synopsis: All the ladies who are “anybody” in Chinquapin, Louisiana come to Truvy’s beauty salon to have their hair done. Filled with hilarious repartee and several acerbic verbal collisions, the comedy moves toward tragedy when, in the second act, the spunky Shelby risks her life to go through with a dangerous pregnancy. Confronted with the harshness of mortality, the others draw together to find strength – and love – in the wake of tragedy.

Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 2m)
Role(s): Mrs. Violet Venable, an overprotective boy mom to Sebastian.
Synopsis: Catharine Holly has witnessed the murder of her cousin Sebastian, which has sent her to a psychiatric hospital. When Sebastian’s mother, Mrs. Venable, invites a psychiatrist to question Catharine about her story, she paints a picture so graphic it’s almost unbelievable. Mrs. Venable would rather not believe it and wishes to have her son’s secrets remain secrets. In one of Tennessee Williams’ most haunting pieces of writing, how far will a mother go to preserve her son’s reputation?

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w)
Role(s): Beatrice Hunsdorfer, a bitter, vindictive widow, mother to Tillie and Ruth.
Synopsis: Supporting herself and her two daughters by taking in a decrepit old boarder, acid-tongued Beatrice Hunsdorfer wreaks a petty vengeance on everyone around her. Proud but jealous, too filled with her own hurt to accept her daughter’s success, Beatrice can only maim when she needs to love and deride when she intends to praise. Yet, as her younger daughter Tillie’s experiment proves, something beautiful and full of promise can emerge from even the most barren, afflicted soil.

The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca
(Full-Length Play, Drama / Various Versions)
Role(s): Bernarda, a stern matriarch with five daughters.
Synopsis: Bernarda is obsessed with family honor. Just widowed, she announces to her daughters that they will enter a traditional eight-year period of cloistered mourning. Each daughter desires love, but with the doors clamped shut, they silently turn to other pursuits. All except one, who manages to have a secret tryst with a scurrilous suitor who is betrothed to the eldest daughter.

These English translations of the play are available for licensing from Concord Theatricals:

• Version translated by Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata (US/UK)
• Version translated by James Graham Lujan and Richard O’Connell (US/UK)
• Musical version by Michael John LaChiusa (US/UK)

The House That Will Not Stand by Marcus Gardley (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 7w)
Role(s): Beartrice Albans, fifty, matriarch of the Albans family and a free woman of color.
Synopsis: A powerful drama about the free women of color in New Orleans, 1813. Matriarch Beartrice is trying to manage her headstrong daughters. With French-owned Louisiana Territory about to be acquired by the United States, a more ominous transfer of power threatens their freedom. Thiss gripping examination of intersecting captivities, The House That Will Not Stand follows four women in mourning as they look ahead to an uncertain and haunting future.

The Mother by Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 2m)
Role(s): Anne, mother to Son (Nicolas) and Girl (Élodie).
Synopsis: Anne loved the time in her life when she prepared breakfast each morning for her two young children. Years later, spending hours alone, Anne convinces herself that her husband is having an affair. If only her son were to break up with his girlfriend, he would return home and come down for breakfast… she would put on her new red dress, and they would go out. This English translation of the French play is by Christopher Hampton.

The Night Watcher by Charlayne Woodard (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Role(s): Charlayne Woodard, simultaneously a best friend, mentor, psychologist and surrogate mother to the many young people who call her “Auntie.”
Synopsis: Charlayne Woodard is childless only by biological standards. Told with penetrating grace, candor and wit, this is the story of a woman who chooses not to have children – only to be pulled into the real-life struggles of kids of all ages, races and backgrounds.

The Oldest Boy: A Play in Three Ceremonies by Sarah Ruhl (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w, 4m)
Role(s): Mother, mother to The Oldest Boy, mid-thirties to mid-forties, American.
Synopsis: In this moving exploration of parenthood, an American mother and a Tibetan father have a three-year-old son believed to be the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama. When a Tibetan lama and a monk come to their home unexpectedly, asking to take their child away for a life of spiritual training in India, the parents must make a life-altering choice that will test their strength, their marriage, and their hearts. The Oldest Boy is a richly emotional journey filled with music, dance, puppetry, ritual, and laughter — Sarah Ruhl at her imaginative best.

The Refuge Plays by Nathan Alan Davis (US/UK)
(Full-Length Plays, Drama / 1-4w, 1-4m)
Role(s): Various, including Early, the original matriarch of the family in Protect the Beautiful Place, Walking Man’s mother in Walking Man and a young woman in Early’s House; Clydette, the ghost of Early’s mother; and Gail, the de facto head of the household in Protect the Beautiful Place and a young woman from a nearby town in Walking Man.
Synopsis: Late at night, a ghost tells Gail she will die within the next 24 hours. So begins The Refuge Plays, an epic tale in three plays that follows one Black family over 70 years. Written by Nathan Alan Davis, this bold reimagining of an American “family play” follows four generations in reverse chronology as they carve out an existence for themselves in a southern Illinois forest. Each of the three plays – Protect the Beautiful Place (US/UK), Walking Man (US/UK) and Early’s House (US/UK) – runs for 60 minutes. They can be presented together or individually.

The Revlon Girl by Neil Anthony Docking (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w)
Role(s): Almost all of the characters in this play are bereaved mothers in their 20s to 30s.
Synopsis: Eight months after the Aberfan Disaster of 1966, in which 144 people were killed (116 of them children), a group of bereaved mothers meet weekly above a local hotel to talk, cry and laugh without feeling guilty. At one of their previous meetings, the women looked at each other and admitted how much they felt they’d let themselves go. Afraid that people will think them frivolous, they’ve secretly arranged for a representative from Revlon to come and give them a talk on beauty tips.

The Royal Family by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy / 6w, 11m)
Role(s): Fanny Cavendish, the matriarch of the most famous theatrical family on Brodway: the Cavendish clan.
Synopsis: While matriarch Fanny Cavendish plans a farewell tour, her leading lady daughter, Julie, has to choose between a dinner date and a first rehearsal – and just when matinee idol brother Tony is on the lam for slugging a Hollywood director. In the meantime, Fanny’s granddaughter, Gwen, is thinking the unthinkable – chucking the whole thing to marry a stockbroker. But the show must go on – and so must the Cavendish tradition. When the curtain falls, the torch is passed from one generation of actors to another.

The Stepmother by Githa Sowerby (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play / 5w, 4m)
Role(s): Miss Loia Relph, wife and businesswoman, stepmother to Monica and Betty.
Synopsis: Lois Relph, a young woman with two beloved stepdaughters and her own thriving business, appears contented and in charge. But the year is 1924, so does she really have control of her own money, or even her life? And what will she do if things go wrong personally or professionally? It takes courage and determination to define the roles of wife, mother and businesswoman, and Lois knows it will not be easy.

Three Tall Women by Edward Albee (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 1m)
Role(s): A, a thin, autocratic, proud woman with scarlet nails, hair nicely done and a dressing gown.
Synopsis: This engaging examination of the life of one woman is based on Albee’s own mother – following her life story at three different stages, including the end of her life. The three women are the stages of “A’s” life: the imperious old woman, the regal matron and the young woman of twenty-six. Her life, memories and reminiscences are unceremoniously examined, questioned, accepted or not, but, at last, understood.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, adapted by various playwrights
(Full-Length Play, Adventure / Various Versions below)
Role(s): Jim’s Mother, an inn-keeper and, sometimes, woman of adventure
Synopsis: Robert Louis Stevenson’s timeless adventure coming-of-age novel follows a young Jim Hawkins as sets out to sea with the pirates of the Hispañola. Jim’s mother, Marmee, is a strong, encourage presence in every iteration of the story.

Multiple adaptations of the play are available for licensing from Concord Theatricals:

• For a “racy, pacy, tough-as-old boots” adaptation: Ken Ludwig’s Treasure Island by Ken Ludwig (US/UK)
• For an expanded, more diverse cast (including a gender-bent Jim and Doctor): Treasure Island by Bryony Lavery (US/UK)
• For an adaptation that’s true to the original: Treasure Island by Mary Zimmerman (US/UK)
• For a musical version fit for all ages of adventure: Treasure Island: A Musical Panto by Kathryn Petersen and Michael Ogborn (US)
• For a version that ups the ante on the ribald humor, puns and pirate antics: Treasure Island: A New Adventure by A.J. Allegra, James Bartelle and Alex Martinez Wallace (US/UK)

Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegría Hudes (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 4m)
Role(s): Odessa Ortiz/Haikumom, the founder and moderator of an online support group where she mothers a group of recovering addicts as they become found family.
Synopsis: A veteran of the Iraq war struggles to find his place in the world. Somewhere in a chat room, recovering addicts – including his mother – keep each other alive, hour by hour, day by day. This Pulitzer Prize-winning play is a heartfelt meditation on addiction and recovery, family (both biological and found), identity and displacement, the lingering impact of war and the complex nature of online versus real-world communities and human connections.

Wolf Play by Hansol Jung (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play / 5w, 4m)
Role(s): Robin (she/her) and Ash (they/them), a lesbian couple who become adoptive parents to Wolf, who is a mix of the familiar and the terribly unexpected.
Synopsis: A Korean boy is ushered into a new house and un-adopted by his adopted American father and thrust into the care of American boxer and their wife. Wolf Play is a messy, funny, disturbing theatrical experience grappling with a wolf, a puppet and the very prickly problem of “What is a family, and what do we need from families today? Is it very different from what humans have needed from families before?”

Musicals

Bat Boy: The Musical by Keythe Farley, Brian Flemming and Laurence O’Keefe (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Dark Comedy / 4w, 6m + ensemble)
Role(s): Meredith Parker, wife to a veterinarian and mother to spunky teen Shelby who takes in Bat Boy and eventually dreams about a “Three-Bedroom House” they can all escape to, and Mrs. Taylor, high-strung mother to the teenage spelunkers Rick, Ron and Ruthie Taylor.
Synopsis: Based on a ridiculous tabloid story, this comedy/horror show is about a half-boy/half-bat creature who is discovered in a cave near Hope Falls, West Virginia. For lack of a better solution, the local sheriff brings Bat Boy to the home of the town veterinarian, Dr. Parker, where he is eventually accepted as a member of the family and taught to act like a “normal” boy by the veterinarian’s wife, Meredith, and teenage daughter, Shelley. This smart, hilarious and tuneful off-Broadway hit is an uproarious, high-energy parable about prejudice, community, love… and blood-sucking bats.

Bye Bye Birdie by Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 6w, 5m + ensemble)
Role(s): Mrs. Mae Peterson, Albert’s mother and the quintessential “Mama,” and Mrs. Doris MacAfee, mother of Kim and Randolph.
Synopsis: Teenagers, rock & roll and national television. The musical captures the energy and excitement of the late 1950s with a tuneful, high-energy score. Songwriter Albert Peterson finds himself in trouble when his client, teen heartthrob Conrad Birdie is drafted, so he organizes a farewell kiss with an All-American girl as a publicity stunt to promote his new song. Trouble comes, however, when Albert’s hilariously overbearing mother, Mae, swoops into town to end his longtime romance.

Carrie: The Musical by Michael Gore, Dean Pitchford, Lawrence D. Cohen and Stephen King (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 5w, 2m + ensemble)
Role(s): Margaret White, a woman of visceral extremes, ranging from fervent religious convictions to tender, maternal love for her daughter Carrie; and Miss Lynn Gardner, mid-30s, the P.E. teacher at school, a strict disciplinarian sometimes, a warm, strong and protective figure to Carrie.
Synopsis: Carrie White is a misfit. At school, she’s an outcast who’s bullied by the popular crowd, and virtually invisible to everyone else. At home, she’s at the mercy of her loving but cruelly overprotective mother. But Carrie’s just discovered she’s got a special power, and if pushed too far, she’s not afraid to use it. Based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel, Carrie.

Gypsy by Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Gypsy Rose Lee (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 6w, 2m + ensemble)
Role(s): Rose, the original stage mother and namesake of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “Rose’s Turn.”
Synopsis: The Mother of All Musicals! This jewel of Broadway’s Golden Age reveals the world of vaudeville and burlesque with an incomparable score, a brilliantly conceived book and one of the greatest leading roles ever to grace the Broadway stage: Rose, a domineering mother determined to make her children into stars.

Head Over Heels by The Go-Go’s, Sir Philip Sidney, Jeff Whitty and James Magruder (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 4w, 3m, 1 any gender (adult) + ensemble)
Role(s): Gynecia, the sexy, wise and beautiful Queen of Arcadia. Like any longstanding spouse, knows how to get her way with her husband when push comes to shove. Mother to Pamela and Philoclea.
Synopsis: A hilarious, exuberant celebration of love, this bold musical comedy follows the escapades of a royal family on an outrageous journey to save their beloved kingdom from extinction – only to discover the key to their realm’s survival lies within each of their own hearts. A High School Edition (US/UK) is also available.

I Remember Mama by Richard Rodgers, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 5w, 4m, 4 girls, 1 boy + ensemble)
Role(s): Mama, an immigrant from Norway, mother of the Hansen family.
Synopsis: This musical about a Norwegian family’s survival in the New World is based on John van Druten’s hit play (US/UK), in which a successful writer recounts her childhood in San Francisco following the turn of the century. She recalls familial hardships and triumphs, including the near loss of their home, Papa’s desperate return to Norway when he can no longer find work, and the sale of her first story – this one. But, of course, it’s Mama she remembers most of all, always guiding their precarious journey with a firm hand and a warm heart.

In The Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda & Quiara Alegría Hudes (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 6w, 6m + ensemble)
Role(s): Abuela Claudia, the neighborhood’s beloved mother figure who raised Usnavi and Camila Rosario, a strong, level-headed businesswoman and mother to Nina.
Synopsis: This musical tells the universal story of a vibrant community in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood – a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It’s a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind.

Mame by Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. Lee, Jerry Herman and Patrick Dennis (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 6w, 6m + ensemble)
Role(s): Mame Dennis, a wealthy sophisticate, one of musical theatre’s all-time greatest heroines!
Synopsis: When the ebullient and convivial socialite Mame Dennis suddenly becomes responsible for the upbringing of her nephew Patrick, she embraces the challenge, introducing the boy to all of life’s wonders. With spirit, humor, class and wit, Mame continues to thrill audiences around the globe.

Motherhood the Musical by Sue Fabisch and Johnny Rodgers (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 4w)
Role(s): Barb, 30s to 40s, stay-at-home mother of five with a dry sarcastic sense of humor; Brooke, 40s, a sophisticated attorney and mother of two who wonders if she can balance work and home; Tina, 30s to 40s, soccer mom and mother of three who is recently divorced and adjusting to her new identity as a single mom; and Amy, 25-35, pregnant with her first child, meticulous about doing everything perfectly and blissfully unaware of how much her life is about to change.
Synopsis: Having a baby is just the beginning… motherhood is for life. In this charming, original musical, four women share their insights, challenges and pleasures at a baby shower. Over 90 minutes of fun, they celebrate the trials and joys of being a mom at any age.

Penelope by Alex Bechtel, Grace McLean and Eva Steinmetz (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 1w)
Role(s): Penelope, a bright and unyielding woman engaged in an epic journey of the imagination. A classical actor, a poetic mover, a gifted clown and the lead singer of a band. Wife to Odysseus, mother to a son who has disappeared.
Synopsis: Penelope has been waiting… and waiting… and waiting for her husband, Odysseus, to return from a decade-long war. Given the rest of the soldiers came home years ago – forgive her, but she’s going to need a drink while she tells you about it. With a beautiful folk-inflected pop score backed by an onstage band of strings, piano and drums, Penelope opens up about her loneliness, her son’s disappearance, her suitors, her gods, her faith in her marriage – and ultimately, the faith that she must have in herself.

Rated P for Parenthood by Dan Lipton, David Rossmer and Sandy Rustin (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 2w, 2m)
Role(s): There are two tracks for women to play the roles of multiple mothers across multiple times in the life of having children.
Synopsis: Rated P for Parenthood chronicles every stage of modern-day parenting, from conception to college, with giant doses of heart and humor. A versatile cast takes the audience through the ups and downs of having kids – from the sublime to the ridiculous – in a series of comic and musical vignettes.

Ruthless! by Joel Paley & Marvin Laird (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Comedy / 7w, with flexible gender casting)
Role(s): Judy Denmark, a devoted wife and mother who floats effortlessly through life with a smile, has opinions on everything, and whose hallmark virtue is her consummate politeness; and Lita Encore, a boozy theatre critic who cracks wise but is also a loving and compassionate mother who can’t resist making inappropriate jokes when counseling her adoptive daughter Judy.
Synopsis: Eight-year-old Tina Denmark knows she was born to play Pippi Longstocking, and she will do anything to win the part in her school musical, including murdering the leading lady! But when a family history of stardom is discovered, Tina’s mother steps into the limelight herself. This aggressively outrageous musical hit garnered rave reviews during its long off-Broadway run.

The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 4w, 4m + ensemble)
Role(s): Margaret Johnson, an elegant, self-possessed, practical and attractive wife of an American businessman in middle age who is protective of her daughter, Clara.
Synopsis: In this lush, romantic musical set in 1958, Margaret Johnson is touring the Tuscan countryside with her daughter, Clara. While sightseeing, Clara meets Fabrizio Naccarelli, a handsome Florentine, and sparks an immediate and intense romance. As events unfold, a secret is revealed and Margaret is forced to reconsider not only Clara’s future, but her own hope as well.

The Rink by Terrence McNally, John Kander and Fred Ebb (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama / 3w, 5m)
Role(s): Anna Antonelli, owner of a roller rink in Coney Island and mother to Angel.
Synopsis: In a sort of Coney Island of the mind, streetwise Anna Antonelli discovers that her roller rink is about to be demolished, and with it, Anna’s sour memories of her philandering husband and painfully shy daughter, Angel. When Angel returns to Coney Island after years of aimless wandering, the rink becomes an arena in which mother and daughter examine their past, present and future.

Unexpected Joy by Bill Russell and Janet Hood (US/UK)
(Full-Length Musical, Dramatic Comedy / 4w)
Role(s): Joy, a baby boomer folk/rock star of great warmth and exuberance, mother to Rachel; and Rachel, Joy’s daughter who rebelled against her parents’ hippie lifestyle and married a televangelist, on whose show she frequently sings.
Synopsis: Unexpected Joy is the story of three generations of female singers, long-held family tensions, and a week together where change is in the air. In modern-day Cape Cod, Joy, a baby boomer and proud hippie, is holding a memorial concert for the other half of her popular musical duo, Jump & Joy. When her tightly wound, conservative daughter and her sweet, rebellious granddaughter arrive from Oklahoma, sparks fly. A heartfelt and hilarious story celebrating diversity and acceptance, Unexpected Joy weaves folk-rock, pop, and blues in a fresh, dynamic score.

For more great musicals and plays, visit Concord Theatricals in the US or UK.