This play reminds me why I never want to have children, but at the same time honours those who do and who do it well. Here we have kids screaming, mothers yelling, and a chaotic and hectic opening to a show that is probably more true to life than you'd think.
Secrets of a Soccer Mom takes place on a cloudy afternoon in a soccer field, where three gossipy and judgmental women have gathered to watch and play soccer with their kids. However, there's more action on the sidelines than there is on the field.
The play touches upon all different levels of motherhood. Whether it's the competitiveness they have with one another or the coming together to form a community, it's the strength they have as women that really bonds them. I wished there was more secrets and less soccer, but that's the playwright's fault. The production itself does a good job in assaulting the ears with loud referee whistles and the constant sideline screams - at first a bit off-putting, but later becoming the perfect and realistic backdrop to what these women must deal with on a regular basis.
Lest it become a
Sex and the City on a soccer field,
Secrets is more about finding the woman beyond the parent, and beyond that, finding yourself. It's a love letter to the moms who work, the moms who volunteer their time, the moms who have sex, the moms who don't, the moms who have affairs, the moms with absent husbands, the moms who have left their other lives behind for this one. It's an ode to a way of life that isn't for everyone, and for those who do choose to be a parent, hats off to you!
Tammy Bentz, Jessica Heafey, and Jenny Mitchell play the occasionally high-strung LuluLemon-clad mothers in this suburban play.
Secrets of a Soccer Mom runs until March 10 at the
Presentation House Theatre.
