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Staceyann Chin, Cynthia Nixon and Rosie O’Donnell collaborate on “MotherStruck”

Staceyann Chins new off-Broadway play MotherStruck began as a 2011 blog post called “A Single Lesbian’s Quest for Motherhood,” the first of a series on Huffington Post. Now, Chin has re-imagined her heart-on-the page musings into a one-woman tour de force powered by her energy, charm and whip-smart observations about everything from growing up motherless in Jamaica to the hunt for a “baby daddy.”

In a recent review, the New York Times singled out this tongue-in-cheek bit about finding the right partner in Brooklyn’s “sea of lesbians:”

“We will spend 2.25 years reveling in the magic of our romance. Then, over careful, respectful, nonhostile negotiations and even more careful planning, we’d select the perfect sperm donor, who would have to, of course, be the exact combination of both our ethnicities, to assist in conceiving the radical feminist ninja messiah we intend to release upon the patriarchy.”

Photo by Noam Galai/WireImage

MotherStruck is a one-woman vehicle, showcasing the performance savvy Chin brought to Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam on Broadway and the depth of her searing 2010 memoir The Other Side of Paradise. But behind every great lesbian—at least in this case—there are two other great lesbians: Cynthia Nixon and Rosie O’Donnell.

photos by Amira Rosenbush

The two seasoned performers have wrapped their arms around Chin and ushered her into the spotlight. Post Sex and the City, Nixon has added director to her resume. She spent a year and a half working with Chin to shape and direct MotherStruck for the stage. O’Donnell, best known as a talk show host, comedian and philanthropist, signed on as producer.

These three power players sat down together recently in Manhattan to discuss their play. During a two-hour conversation—freewheeling, heartfelt and sometimes tearful—they talked about queer motherhood, their commitment to activist art and the importance of community.

AfterEllen: Staceyann, give us an idea how MotherStruck came about?

Staceyann Chin: I blogged about trying to have a baby for Huffington Post and the response was so live because nobody’s really talking about this stuff in detail. People were interested and asking questions, so while I was pregnant and even after, I kept writing. The blogs continued to be so popular that I started putting them together and reading them out loud when I would travel.

AE: And they became a full-fledged play.

Staceyann: I have always done one-person shows at the Culture Project and so when Allen Buchman [the artistic director] said, “What are you working on?” I said, “Oh, there’s this play”-and it wasn’t really a play yet; it was just a bunch of things that I had written and I was reading aloud. I started doing readings at the Culture Project, and people loved them so much that we started kind of trying to craft a narrative.

AE: How did Cynthia end up directing?

Staceyann: Cynthia came along after I emailed her and she said that she wanted to be on board.

AE: Wait, just one little email-like, “Hey girl?”

Cynthia Nixon: Yeah, pretty much.

AE: And Rosie?

Rosie: I went to the Broadway show [Def Poetry Jam] with Staceyann in it, and I was totally mesmerized by her. Then when I saw her book, I’m like “I remember this girl.” Once I read the book, I interviewed her for my radio show [Rosie Radio on Sirius]. She was trying to get pregnant at the time and she came to my house where the studio was and did the interview, and we had lunch.

AE: And then?

Rosie: Cynthia and I had dinner, and I said, “What are you doing?” She said, “Well, do you know this poet Staceyann Chin?” I’m like, “As a matter of fact”-then she asked, “Would you like to come to a reading? And I did and then she said, “Do you want to produce?” And I was like “Sure,” and here we are.

Staceyann, Rosie, writer Linda Villarosa and Cynthia

AE: You have nine kids between you—Rosie’s five, Cynthia’s three and Staceyann’s daughter. It’s cool that the three of you queer moms are friends and have collectively have written, produced and directed a play about queer motherhood.

Cynthia: I think it’s really important to have other lesbian moms to balance your parenting experience because it’s not the standard fair for most.

Staceyann: It’s also interesting that we almost covered the entire gambit of how lesbians become moms among the three of us.

Cynthia: Giving birth, having your partner give birth, adopting, having a known donor, having a non-known donor.

Staceyann: We all have very interesting relationships with our mothers, too. Cynthia, from what I know about your relationship with your mom you were pretty cool, and she lived a long life. [To Rosie] And you lost your mom early and that informed so much of how you view motherhood. And my own mother was so absent and the other women who were around really kind of mistreated me. So I was mis-mothered in so many ways.

Cynthia: Mis-mothered and un-mothered.

AE: One of the themes I really loved in the play was the worry about how you will be as a mother based on how you were mothered. That idea and anxiety is really a touchstone for many of us.

Staceyann: I think even women who come to see the show who have great relationships with their mothers, still struggle with the idea about how they are going to be as a mother. Like am I going to be as good as my mom? Or is there something I didn’t like that my mom did and am I going to do it to my own kids?

Rosie: The scariest day for me was when my son, this little preemie five-pound thing, was placed in my arms, and I had no one there to look to. That was the day I felt most motherless, in some ways, the hardest day of my life. Even though I was 33 years old and my mother had been dead 23 years, that moment hurt because I felt so much longing for her.

Cynthia: I think one of the important lessons of our gay community is that we are able to see that your family is who you decide is your family. At the good points in your life and the bad, your family is the circle of people who show up.

AE: MotherStruck is obviously about motherhood and mothering. Can you also talk about other themes?

Staceyann: It really is a coming of age play—coming of adult age.

Cynthia: I think the first act is about how you get the life you want and the second act looks now that you are in the life you want—how do you live it and how do you figure out all the shit that has happened to you and what it all means and what do you do with it. In Staceyann’s case, it happens to be wanting to be a mother and then figuring out how to be a mother given the parenting that happened and didn’t happen.

Rosie: I think the play speaks to the universal humanity that’s in one person’s story. It’s the uniquely individual story of this young girl born in Jamaica who’s a lesbian and becomes a mother. But it’s also appealing and relatable in the same way as [the movie] My Left Foot. I’ve never had a crippling disease, but you can still relate to and enjoy the story about someone’s life that’s not yours.

AE: It’s also about economics.

Cynthia: Yes, about how you survive in New York as an artist, especially an artist of color, and as a single woman with a child.

Staceyann: And gentrification. Whenever you talk about the gentrification theme, it’s like church. The audience goes crazy thinking about how New York is getting to be a place that’s only for the rich.

AE: Obviously the audience is filled with lesbians, but have you been surprised by others who have been drawn to the show?

Staceyann: Gay men. I never thought they would be such champions of this play. But I see these gay men come in holding hands, and they end up weeping because they want to get pregnant. They want to have a baby that looks like one of them.

Cynthia: Sperm is a lot easier to get than getting an egg and finding someone to carry it in the womb.

Rosie: Yeah, I guess they’re motherstruck, too.

AE: Staceyann, what’s it like working with these two women?

Staceyann: I come off the stage, get to Brooklyn and am climbing into bed thinking “Cynthia Nixon is directing and Rosie O’Donnell is producing: This is fucking crazy!” I am, like, colleagues with these people.

Rosie: You are, honey, own it.

Staceyann: You must see this from my point of view. When I think about who I am and where I am from, this is something kind of crazy and amazing.

Rosie: Okay, I am not trying to name drop, but Madonna does not feel like Madonna. And think about when Cynthia did her first show at what 12? I’m sure she felt, “I am not worthy of this.” Just look at that 14-year-old who is better than me. Doesn’t mean anything, right? You will never feel equal to the people you perceive came before you

Staceyann: I would just like to say you are stratosphere stars and you keep talking about me as if like I’m one, too.

Cynthia: You’re a rock star!

Staceyann: I’m like a radical, left wing fringe artist.

Rosie: Don’t diminish yourself. You are presenting this beautiful piece of art about your life and are as worthy an artist as anyone else.

AE: The play runs through the end of January—what’s next for each of you?

Cynthia: I just finished this movie [A Quiet Passion] where I play Emily Dickinson, that’s coming out. And Hillary Clinton‘s appearing in an upcoming episode of Broad City, and I play her person on the ground. On the show, Ilana [Glazer] goes to work for Hillary’s campaign, and it’s my job to be in charge of her. I also hope to do more directing—and take a break. I really need it.

Rosie: I recently did an upcoming episode of Mom with Allison Janney. I play Allison’s former lover from 20 years ago when we were both alcoholics and then we meet again at a gay AA meeting. I had to kiss Allison, and I was literally practicing kissing on my pillow like I did in seventh grade. Anna Faris told me two weeks later that Allison Janney said I was a very good kisser. And I play a social worker on The Fosters. I’m a constant guest star; if The Love Boat was still on, I’d be on it.

Staceyann: I am hoping the show goes on forever and ever. It would be wonderful to go on tour with it after it closes in New York. I don’t know what else. Keep raising hell, I guess.

“MotherStruck” is playing at the Cultural Project in New York now through January 29.

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