Comedy-Drama/ 12 characters, 1 to 12 female actors/ One act

Synopsis: Kim needs a double stroller for her twin daughter. Now. Marge jetsets from the boardroom to the nursery, and back. Double time. And Kim will convince the powers-that-be that her daughter deserves a place in the gifted students class. Fasten your seatbelts for a 45-minute whistle stop tour of the highs and lows of modern motherhood. Nine mothers, nine monologues, and nine stories, interlinked by the games of three girls who know one thing for sure: Being the mommy is the best part.

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"What impresses us about Norland's work is the breadth of scope within such narrow compass, the keenness of observation . . . and the ability to be wittily ironic and movingly direct."
- John Simon, New York Magazine

"Studies the mother-daughter connection with insight . . . kinetic drive and humor."
Mel Gussow, The New York Times

Contact Information:
Amateur and Professional Rights:
3 Back Lane
Godden Green
Kent, UK
TN15 0JH
Tel: 011 44 (0) 1732 761 864
E-mail: joanna.norland@gmail.com

About the playwright: Canadian-born, Joanna Alexandra Norland originally wrote Mothers Have Nine Lives as her entry for the 1992 Young Playwrights Festival, where it was produced at Playwrights Horizons, New York in 1992. This script has since received a number of readings and productions at London theatres, including the Bridewell Theatre, Soho Theatre and the Tabard Theatre.

Her first full-length play, Lizzy, Darcy and Jane (originally entitled Jane Austen Makes a Match) premiered at the Bath Jane Austen Festival in 2006, and was produced by the C Company at the Tabard Theatre, London in 2008. It has been accepted for publication by Samuel French Ltd.

Joanna's other one-act plays have been performed, showcased, and workshopped in London at Soho Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, and the Theatre Museum. Her short play Lydia Reconsiders was selected as a finalist in the 2004 National Ten-Minute Play Contest sponsored by the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Joanna is a member of the London-based Player Playwrights theatre group, and was awarded a grant by Arts Council England to develop Lizzy, Darcy and Jane.

Outside of the theatre, Joanna is an international tax attorney with the London office of Withers LLP. She has also worked as a journalist, social researcher, and university lecturer.

Mothers Have Nine Lives was first produced by Playwrights Horizon, New York City in 1992.