New leaders of ‘Listen to Your Mother’ keep wisdom, humor and anecdotes going

When founders of the local production of a show all about motherhood announced retirement after 2022, a group of Spokane residents refused to let the stories about those connections end.

In other cities following COVID-19, many of the “Listen to Your Mother” shows didn’t resurrect as live events, where performers read true stories on stage. But three women recently ensured the legacy stayed here. This Mother’s Day Sunday, 13 Inland Northwest speakers are scheduled for the 7 p.m. show at the Bing Crosby Theater.

There are still performances of the original “Listen to Your Mother” launched in 2010 by creator Ann Imig in Madison, Wisconsin. Spokane soon after was one of the first among dozens of locations to pick it up, said new co-director Jessica Vaughn.

“Now, there are only a handful of shows,” Vaughn said. It proved too important to fans here to let it die, although the pandemic canceled Spokane’s 2020 and 2021 shows.

“There is so much value in people hearing your story, so much empowerment in sharing your own story. It’s the most supportive audience you could ever want.

“You see women leave the stage, and they’re so validated. It’s something that we as women don’t have a lot of, I think. It’s just life-changing. A lot of them go on to do amazing things, or at least it changes part of their identity. They know they’re a writer or they’re worth listening to.”

Longtime former directors Elise Raimi and Stacey Conner, who first brought the show to Spokane, helped last year with the transition to turn it over to Vaughn and Nicole Parker as directors, and to Kendra Johnson as producer.

This 2024 production will be the first one on their own, but the three women have a lengthy tenure. Vaughn and Parker were in the cast 10 years ago, and a majority of those cast members formed a tight-knit writers’ group that still meets regularly.

Parker said continuing “Listen to Your Mother” was a must.

“Jessica and I, and lots of women who have participated in it, have just had such value in sharing our stories,” she said. “We didn’t want that to go away.”

They often hear from audience members later about how shared motherhood experiences spoke to them.

“Normalizing some of the things that people may or may not talk about motherhood, being a mom or your relationship with your mom is incredibly important. It creates community; it’s so important, particularly after COVID.”

Johnson, who now organizes the show, is a midwife, nurse practitioner and owner of Whole Body Wellness Aesthetics. She also had been a faithful attendee of the show for eight years. A majority of ticket proceeds from this year’s event will go to Embrace Washington, a Spokane nonprofit that supports foster care families, she said.

“It had become a Mother’s Day tradition for me, but I also think it’s a really important community sharing event,” Johnson said.

“We have lost many of the venues that bring us all together for a commonality, and motherhood is a commonality – whether you are a mother, know a mother or are a mother. The bravery and vulnerability that it takes to share those stories is immense.”

This year’s show is dedicated to a 2014 cast member, Sarah Werkman, who died Oct. 3. Werkman had shared a story about kintsukuroi, the Japanese artform of sealing together broken ceramic with gold. Her piece related that to motherhood.

“So the ceramic pieces are worth more having been broken,” said Laura Cook-Crotty, a cast member this year who was also part of the same 2014 cast. “That’s a symbol for a mother’s heart, that we all go through this as moms, but we’re stronger for it, more valuable for it. I love her piece.”

“Listen to Your Mother” is an annual Mother’s Day tradition for many as a women’s night out, with sisters, mothers and grandmothers going together, Vaughn added. Children who attend typically need to be at least 12 .

“There can be some cussing sometimes,” she said. “Some people have gone through trauma and share.”

Cook-Crotty said the audience should expect a full range.

“You’re going to laugh and you’re going to cry.”

“What’s amazing about our group is we are from all corners of Spokane County, all different backgrounds. We would have never met each other otherwise because we have such different lives. Yet, we’ve become the best friends, because motherhood is a universal bond.”

The cast often shares tales about motherhood, along with a few men in past years, who talked about their relationships with mothers.

Topics are wide-ranging: infertility, adoption, loss of a child, being a new mom, kids leaving the nest, or even a difficult relationship with a mom. Some talk about quirky, fun moments relating to children.

Cook-Crotty plans “My Next Magnum Opus,” a twist of humor first in her show stint 10 years ago. She had described then that while pregnant, she was at first devastated about having a boy. But that son turned 5 a decade ago.

“I just thought he was going to be my magnum opus, because I was so in love with him,” she said. “This year, 10 years later, I thought it would be funny to do another one, now that my magnum opus is 15.”

But her bigger story is grappling with what’s next as her 17-year-old daughter is graduating, that 15-year-old son doesn’t seem to need her much and her youngest son, “the baby” is 12.

“I read that by the time your baby is 12, you’ve spent over three-quarters of the time with them in their entire life that you’ll spend,” she said. “It’s terrible, so I’m trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life that is going to have even a tiny bit of the meaning of being a mother.

“I love being a mom. Nothing can compare to it.”