The Whitefire Theatre and Black Voices present Anita Maria Taylor’s “Bipolar Mommy & Me,” written and performed by Anita Maria Taylor, directed by Sammie Wayne, IV and streaming until June 1, 2022.
Anita Maria Taylor’s poignant and memorable solo show “Bipolar Mommy and Me” is a bold, brave window into the world of bipolar parenting, survival and forgiveness.
Anita’s mother suffered for many years with bipolar disorder. Drifting in and out of sane and crazy, her children tiptoeing through their lives with her, never knowing what one day may contain, bliss and love or anger and danger.
Mental illness has a tendency to travel through families like wildfire. It can put so much stress on those trying to manage it that it breaks apart closeness, damages reality and fills the world around it with misery. Anita Maria Taylor survived her mother, always with the worry that her own profound depression was the beginnings of this inherited disease. Yet, through her survival she became stronger and more compassionate than she could ever have imagined. She also found a new relationship with her, with a new understanding.
Telling stories like this is difficult to do. Even as it helps and heals and sets us free. So for an actress to face her own deep fears and share a world we would have never known in such a bold and vivid way is a triumph in and of itself. But, there also has to be a story. A rhythm. A journey for an audience to experience and a truth.
Anita Maria Taylor’s “Bipolar Mommy & Me” is a great achievement in solo work. It has a weight to it. A purpose, not just for Anita but for her audience. To witness her truth and to become enlightened by it.
Anita skillfully walks that treacherous path between too much and too little and she arrives at the end of the play right on time, with grace and fragility and warrior strength. Bravo!
Streaming:
If you would like to see Anita Maria Taylor’s “Bipolar Mommy & Me,” you can still watch it online until June 1, 2022 here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/358634
The Whitefire’s Black Voices:
Black Voices at The Whitefire Theatre is running until December with many more shows to come and their annual Solofest begins in January: https://www.whitefiretheatre.com