You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll want to call your mother!
Inspiring one-woman play exploring the unique relationship between mothers and daughters to tour Ireland
All proceeds to benefit local hospices through The Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF)
Best-selling American author and renowned businesswoman, Mary Lou Quinlan, is bringing her emotional, one-woman hit play “The God Box: A Daughter’s Story” to Ireland to raise funds for local hospice groups.
Based on her powerful New York Times bestselling memoir of the same name, Quinlan – recently named as one of Irish America Magazine’s Power 50 Women – shares her personal story of a family in love, in loss and in triumph.
This comic and heart wrenching play tells how after her mother’s death Mary Lou discovered “God Boxes”, small containers stuffed with hundreds of tiny notes, sharing her mother’s innermost thoughts. They revealed her concerns about her kids’ demanding careers, to private wishes for people she’d never even met, to concerns about her own health and everything in between.
The poignant notes, scribbled in supermarket queues, restaurants, and at the kitchen table, were her mother’s way of releasing life’s worries and hopes. The discovery of the boxes triggered Mary Lou’s own unraveling, a journey to confront the greatest human challenge – learning to let go.
Co-written with Martha Wollner, an award-winning actor/playwright and director of NYC’s LAByrinth Theatre, the play has been presented in theatres across the US, including a sell out Off-Broadway run. In 2014 it enjoyed a 24-night run to rave reviews at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Previews in Limerick and Dun Laoghaire in 2015, and recently in Belfast, drew warm Irish receptions to this personal family story.
Quinlan has donated all proceeds to hospice, cancer care and education. To date she has raised nearly $400,000.
Mary Lou Quinlan is a remarkable woman. A hugely successful entrepreneur, she is widely known in the US for her marketing company, Just Ask a Woman, and as an adviser to over 100 blue chip companies on marketing to women. She was formerly CEO of a large NYC ad agency and has written four books and numerous national magazine articles in the US where she has addressed hundreds of conferences on women’s issues.
She was a judge on Simon Cowell’s show, American Inventor, in which people went before a panel to decide if their invention had what it takes.
All proceeds of the 2016 Irish tour will benefit local hospices through The Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF), a national charity striving for best care at end of life for all, and which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Funds raised will support the IHF’s programme to support the voluntary hospice movement all across Ireland.
Irish Hospice Foundation CEO Sharon Foley said: “The Irish Hospice Foundation is delighted to bring The God Box Tour to Ireland in aid of all local hospice groups. Every year we coordinate two national campaigns on behalf of local hospice groups and all funds from this exciting tour go to that fund”.
Mary Lou Quinlan said: “The tender care of hospice meant so much at the most critical days of my family’s life. Sharing my mother’s story is a way I can give back and raise awareness for this cause in Ireland, the land of Mom’s ancestors and a treasured place to me and my husband Joe.”
Dates and Venues
The God Box will perform in nine venues throughout Ireland in October. All shows start at 8 p.m.
- Oct 13th Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise, dunamaise.ie (057) 8663355
- Oct 14th The Everyman, Cork, everymancork.com (021) 450 1673
- Oct 15th Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny watergatetheatre.com (056) 776 1674
- Oct 21st Siamsa Tire, Tralee siamsatire.com (066) 712 3055
- Oct 22nd Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick limetreetheatre.ie (061) 953400
- Oct 27th Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo hawkswell.com (071) 916 1518
- Oct 28th Roscommon Arts Centre, roscommonartscentre.ie (090) 6625824
- Oct 29th Backstage Theatre, Longford backstage.ie (043) 334 7888
- Oct 30th Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire paviliontheatre.ie (01) 231 2929
See www.thegodboxproject.com for full venue details.
