Migrant mothers – Global heart transplant

Migrant Mothers – Global Heart Transplant is a performance on the topic of “long distance” maternity in global society. Two mothers are waiting, suspended between the desire to go back to their country, to their children, and the will of full recognition in their hosting country. Two women, a thousand mothers: actresses on stage condense and overlap many individual stories in one unique coral voice, symbolically bearing the strength and sorrow of the whole female universe, that had to or wanted to give up its full maternity in order to seek financial redemption and the possibility for a better life. For themselves but most of all for those children they left. These are not stories about victims, masters and slaves, escaping mothers and abandoned children. But rather stories about women who are able to deal with the world challenges with sense of humour and courage, and then break the silence that pushes many of them to live in solitude the separation from their children. The script comes from a thorough enquiry on the topic, not only on a bibliographical level, but also through interviews to foreign mothers resident in Italy, personally experiencing separation from their children, in interaction with associations, host shelters, social services in the area of Rome. Important suggestions came from works by Erri de Luca (“In nome della Madre) and the British social scientists Ehrenreich B. and Hochschild A. (“Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy”) To put up replicas of the performance write to distribuzione@zalab.org

Credits

Theatre performance from a concept of Anastasia Astolfi and Maddalena Grechi

direction: Anastasia Astolfi

With: Anastasia Astolfi and Anna Nisivoccia

Stage set and light: Sarah Marugan

Dramaturgical research: Maddalena Grechi

Logistics: Enrica lo Coco

Production: Carro dell’Orsa, Studio Elc, Teatro in Movimento in collaboration with Associazione Zalab