Go Ahead, Laugh at Your Parents

You know the kind of mom. You may be the kind of mom, or you may have one.

She “looks like a nice mom,” as Emma, the girl in the new Island-grown play premiering this weekend explains; this mom takes people where they need to go and makes boo-boos stop hurting, comforts them in the night, feeds them. But the play, written and directed by MJ Bruder Munafo and based on the book by Kate Feiffer, is called My Mom Is Trying to Ruin My Life for a reason. She worries. She makes Emma clean her room. AND do her homework. Let’s not even mention kissing her in public.

Danielle Hopkins, a fifth-grade comic wonder, takes the spotlight as Emma, imagining her parents thrown in jail for such behavior. This parent-free reverie, however, somehow reminds her how much she really does need her mom and dad, ruinous or not.

The Vineyard Playhouse’s workshop production of this delightful little story features 13 Island children alongside a cast of adult actors. It also runs next Friday and Saturday nights. The show is about an hour long. Admission is $15 for adults, $10 children. Tickets in advance or at the door.