After completing the first live stage performance at the 83-year-old downtown Plymouth since Friends of the Penn helped reopen it in 2006, actor-playwright Breeda Kelly Miller stared wistfully at its rafters last November and declared, βI wish this could be my home theater.β
To which Ellen Elliott, executive director of Friends of the Penn, the 501(c)(3) organization that operates the classic single-screen movie theater, replied, βIt could be! You want it to be? Letβs talk.β
Must be the luck of the Irish. So it is that Lincoln Park native Millerβs poignant, powerful one-woman play about her mother, , came to be staged at the Penn. The play documents her momβs journey from Ireland through the end of her life when she was living with dementia. The play, which Miller wrote and stars in, will be presented three times this Motherβs Day weekend β Millerβs idea, Elliott notes β and every succeeding Motherβs Day for as long as she can tread the boards.
βNinety-nine percent of the ideas people bring to us for fundraising wonβt work for one reason or another, but I listen anyway because you never know,β Elliott says. βOne of our donors called and said, βWe just saw this play β itβs amazing; Breeda Miller wants to do it as a fundraiser, and Penn would be the perfect venue.β I wanted Breeda to see the space because this is a movie theater, so I said, βAsk her to call me.β Twenty minutes later, Breeda was on the phone.β
Miller describes herself as an βaccidental caregiver,β after taking her mother, Mary Kelly, into her home when Kelly developed vascular dementia and no longer could care for herself. She lived with Miller and Millerβs husband and three children for nearly six years before passing away in 2011 at age 86. Miller funneled her long-term feelings of exhaustion, frustration, and stress into a two-act script that, after 10 rewrites with acclaimed Ann Arbor-based director Brian Cox, became Mrs. Kellyβs Journey Home.
Changing only her vocal inflections, Miller portrays four characters: her mother, her motherβs best friend, her father, and herself. By her count, she has performed the play 26 times to date in 17 cities, seven states, and two countries: the U.S. and her parentsβ native Ireland.
βIt was the most daunting experience, performing in front of Irish people, many of whom I was related to, doing an Irish accent,β she recalls. βThe opportunities for failure were huge. But after the play, one of my cousins said to me, βBreeda, the buzz in the lobby was so positive.β They could relate to it, and they loved it.β
She reflects. βWhen I originally wrote this piece, I thought, βWhoβs gonna like this?β I thought I had two audiences: Irish people who like Irish stories, and people interested in elder or dementia care. And Iβm so delighted to say I was completely wrong. Nobody thinks a play about dementia is going to be a good time, but just as dementia didnβt define Mary Kelly, it doesnβt define this play. This show transcends ethnicity, race, religion, age. Itβs affirming, and I am so proud of it.β
Mrs. Kellyβs Journey Home will be staged at 7 p.m. Friday, May 10, and in 2 p.m. matinees Saturday, May 11, and Sunday, May 12, at the Penn Theatre at . Go to or , or email info@friendsofthepenn.org, for more information.
This story originally appeared in the May 2024 issue of ΒιΆΉ·¬ΊΕ Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of ΒιΆΉ·¬ΊΕ Detroit at a local retail outlet. OurΜύdigital editionΜύwill be available on May 6.Μύ
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