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9 Goldstar Member Reviews

J

Simple and honest. Everyone should have seen this play. I hope it comes back to the bay area. Even if you do not know anyone with autism, go see this play.

Written on Apr 26 2009

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Rodney A.

A very thought provoking tale. There has to be a special place in heaven for parents of special needs children.

Written on Apr 17 2009

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Confessions of a Refrigerator Mother was thought provoking, brought up many emotions and questions for myself: could I have dealt with a child like this if he/she had been mine; would I hold onto my sanity or would qult prevail. She is/was an angel and a mentor for many who have or are dealing with similiar challenges with a child an ageing parent, etc. Kudos.

Written on Apr 13 2009

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Doyle presents us with a truly honest, fresh perspective on love, responsibility, and the unimagined future that becomes the story of our lives. a lucid, entertaining and brave work. I hope Doyle will travel with this important show -- not only to other theatrical venues, but also to support groups and healing centers. stories prove we are not alone. Doyle's one-woman performance is a gift to the parents & siblings of those who share her experience. it is also a gift to those of us who don't, for Doyle takes us beyond Autism, beyond parenting, beyond family, and gives us the truth of love, in all its messy, scary wonder. a superb work.

Written on Apr 27 2009

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More Information About Confessions of a Refrigerator Mother

Website

http://www.themarsh.org/carolyn_doyle_2009.html

Description

The Marsh, a breeding ground for new performance, is pleased to present Carolyn Doyle's Confessions of a Refrigerator Mother, an exploration of a day-in-the-life of her nine year old son, Joaquin, as she and her family navigate the complex world of autism. The show, directed by Susan E. Evans, is about love and faith and, as suggested by the quotation above, is not without its comic, even absurdist, moments.

The term "refrigerator mother" was coined in the 1940s. It was based on the assumption that autistic behaviors stem from the emotional frigidity of the children's' mothers, an assumption which endures to this day. In a 1960 Time Magazine interview, Leo Kanner, the Austrian physician who is considered the "father" of child psychiatry, and who is the originator of this theory, bluntly described such mothers as "just happening to defrost enough to produce a child." Another, equally bizarre explanation was recently formulated by local radio host Michael Savage who claimed that families sought autism diagnoses for their children to get money from the government and that most kids could be cured if their fathers just told them to "quit ... and stop acting like a moron," an opinion that led to a national outcry, including coverage in The New York Times. In fact, autism is a developmental disorder that afflicts one in every 150 children, profoundly affecting their social and motor skills as well as the ability to speak.

When Joaquin was born, there was no clue that anything was amiss. He smiled, hugged and flirted with his parents. Then the signs started. "It was as if a shroud came over him," says Doyle. He received his diagnosis at age two and for several years she and her husband sought to "fix it." Their son underwent a gamut of tests and therapies - speech, behavioral analysis, even a wheat-free diet. "The awful thing was, in our case, we couldn't fix it," she said. "I had no hope for a while. It was a very dark time."

While some parents respond to their child's condition by becoming activists, and others wall up in grief at home, Doyle wrote a solo show. Warm and ebullient, "fighting for the funny' in her daily life," as she puts it, one wonders what Leo Kanner would have made of her. She and her family live in hope and continue to celebrate Joaquin's life and achievements. He now allows his mother to brush his teeth and cut his nails and he can say four words - banana, no, zip and mama. At eleven, he is classified as severely autistic.

Doyle moved to San Francisco from New York one week after the Loma Prieta earthquake and since then has performed extensively throughout the Bay Area, including Marin Theatre Company, Encore Theatre, San José Rep's Red Ladder, Willows Theatre, Rough and Tumble, Signal Theatre, The Western Stage, Shotgun Players, Woman's Will and the California and San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals. She is also a regular fill-in guest on KZSU's What Would Your Mother Say?, a weekly radio show that explores topics college students talk about with each other, but not always with their moms. As a writer, she is a member of the Artists Development Lab at Z Space and is participating in Intersection for the Arts' yearlong program, The Artist Mutual Aid Pen Pal Project, which connects artists inside and outside of prison to help them create original collaborative art pieces together.

She performed her previous solo show, Bonne Bell Cotton Candy Lipsmacker at CounterPULSE's Words First series, Exit Theatre's Thursday Night Combo, Julia Morgan Center for the Art's Tell It on Tuesday, Monday Night Marsh, The San Francisco Solo Festival, the Reading Room and the San Francisco Theatre Festival. Confessions of a Refrigerator Mother has been workshopped at Monday Night Marsh, the Artists Development Lab Lunchtime Series at Z Space and Eastenders Repertory Company's Discover New Voices series at the Eureka Theatre. In 2007, a Marsh Rising performance played to a sold out crowd.