Mommies’ Boys

Growing up is hard to do, as noted in the world premiere of Mommies’ Boys, Jack Dowd’s multi-generational tale of friendship, love, absentee fathers, and where the sins of one generation are all too easily passed on to the next. Set in an affluent suburb of Westchester County, Jackie, Patrick and Brendan are high school seniors looking forward to college and moving away from home. But first there are some unresolved issues to be dealt with: Jackie is gay and wants to tell his friends; Brendan is an angry young man trapped in a cycle of abuse; and Patrick is a budding uber-liberal whose main task in life seems to be getting back at his dad, who walked out on the family years before. On the other side of the generational divide are the lads’ forty-something mothers, who sometimes value friendship to the detriment of all else. What with Eileen enabling her husband’s abuse, Ann’s “let’s all just get along” attitude and Margaret’s in-your-face brassiness, it sometimes seems they stay together simply because there’s no one else who’ll talk to them.

As the clock ticks down toward Graduation Day, decisions are made, risks are taken and hidden passions are revealed. Through it all there are the bonds various mothers, sons, and friends share…bonds which may not be enough to withstand the realties that life has in store.