Testimonials
AUDIENCES LOVE IT
"Rose Weaver's Menopause Mama will take you on a journey that is poignant, funny and inspiring. We can gain strength and support from these stories of midlife women." -- Carol Landau, Ph.D, Author, The Complete Book of Menopause and Every Woman's Guide to Good Health, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School
"Say farewell to shame-filled whispers about menopause! In her extraordinary Menopause Mama, Rose Weaver uses her beautiful voice and dramatic flair to help us understand, appreciate, and laugh at the change of life." -- Barbara Flinker Ruttenberg, Special Education Mediator, Women's Prison Mentor
"This would be great for mothers and daughters to see together." -- Woman, 21
"Rose, I've followed your work throughout your career. You were great tonight!" -- Man, 49
"What I like about it is that there's something in it for men, too." -- Woman, 47
"I didn't know women went through this stuff!" -- Young man, 19
"During your performance I laughed and found great sorrow in the stories you shared. (Menopause Mama is) a powerful (way) to deliver your message to women experiencing similar situations. Your performance came at such a great time in my life." -- Kathy M, early 50s, social worker
"You were terrific at last night's performance. This is such an important piece of work. You are consistently brave and witty and incisively intelligent and profoundly and lovingly humane and human." -- Paula Caplan, PhD, author of The New Don't Blame Mother: Mending the Mother-Daughter Relationship, Visiting Scholar at the Pembroke Center, Brown University
"Why we need Menopause Mama: I need support to make it through this change of life, which at times is fabulous and awesome and at other times promotes fear. I like the idea of sharing, of being part of Menopause Mama." - Maya Breuer, 53, Kirpalu Certified Yoga Teacher
"I want to know when this is going to happen again. I want to bring my mother." -- Young woman, 22
"It reads like it's somewhere between For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Not Enough and Vagina Monologues." -- Young woman, 20
"Your voice, your timing, and your ability to present different characters are all amazing. I particularly found the episode where you used your feet as drums to be emotionally gripping." -- Dr. Carolyn Swift
My daughter Kate went to a career day at her college this past year and met Rose Weaver, an actress, singer, and playwright whose work is well-respected in the Providence, Rhode Island and Brown University communities. Rose told Kate about the one-woman show she wrote and acts in entitled “Menopause Mama.” As it turns out, my work had been a major source of inspiration for Rose’s play. When Kate told me about this, I felt that we ought to make an effort to go see “Menopause Mama.” And am I ever glad we did!
“Menopause Mama” is, first and foremost, a wonderful theatrical experience, regardless of whether or not you have any interest in menopause and whether or not you’re female (the men in the audience enjoyed the show as much as the women). Rose Weaver’s singing and acting are as good as it gets. Whether playing a 13-year-old girl just coming to grips with her changing body or an old woman full of the wisdom that only comes with age, Rose Weaver is utterly delightful and convincing. I was moved to tears, sitting in the audience, watching Rose make art and music out of the essence of my life’s work about women’s wisdom and women’s bodies.
Happily, “Menopause Mama” has been so popular that it has been held over at the Perishable Theater in Providence through August 17th. I’m hoping that the show will eventually go on the road and tour the country, in the same way as the “Vagina Monologues.” Until that happens, however, do yourself a favor: If you’re going to be in the Northeast this summer, make an effort to get to Providence to see “Menopause Mama.” You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and I guarantee that you’ll have a magnificent and health-enhancing evening. -- Christiane Northrup, MD
(Promotional flyer with audience quotes in .pdf format.)