Broadway moms, Cara Cooper (The Prom) and Jessica Rush (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) of the hit podcast “Mamas Talkin’ Loud”, in association with the Broadway Podcast Network, welcome Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, and Laura Bell Bundy amongst others for season two. New episodes of the podcast are released weekly on Tuesdays, starting September 22, wherever you listen to podcasts and at bpn.fm/mamas.
Kicking off Season 2, Mamas Talkin Loud welcomes six-time Tony Award-winner, Audra McDonald. Covering everything from having daughters 15 years apart and how parenting in the industry has and hasn’t changed in that time, to fighting for social justice both in the theatre community and the nation as a founding member of Black Theatre United, Audra shares her life as a mother, an artist, and an activist.
Following that, Sutton Foster joins the mamas to share her ‘Journey to Motherhood’. After struggling with infertility for years, choosing adoption brought their incredible daughter into their lives and the knowledge that this path was always meant to be. Between balancing motherhood, life on the set of Younger, and a much anticipated return to Broadway in The Music Man, Sutton openly and honestly shares the emotional rollercoaster of the life of a working artist mother.
Continuing the fight for women’s voices, Laura Bell Bundy, follows with a conversation that is sure to ignite the fight for women’s rights. With the release of her single “Get it, Girl. You Go”, she is giving voice to and celebrating the countless women out there doing it all, raising children, pursuing their dreams and fighting for the good of the world. Listeners will be singing and dancing their way to the polls this November, with Laura Bell’s voice ringing in their ears.
Whether it’s a light-hearted chat, their series with special needs mothers (co-host Cara Cooper is one herself), or the month of content celebrating PRIDE, many Tony winners and Broadway stars have graciously joined them ‘in the dressing room’ to share their stories. Broadway Moms, Cara and Jessica and their podcast, have inspired listeners from all walks of life, and, most importantly during this time, have built a community of support, and comfort, continuing to bring their in-depth and meaningful conversations to listeners, even as life went into lockdown.
Some of the guests from their first season were Tony Award winners Heather Headley, Laura Benanti, Daisy Eagan, Tonya Pinkins, Stephanie J Block, Karen Olivo, Annaleigh Ashford, and Celia Keenan-Bolger, as well as fan favorites Robyn Hurder, Cheyenne Jackson, Patti Murin, Kara Lindsay, Caissie Levy and Natasha Yvette Williams. Mothers in our industry from the other side of the table who’ve joined the ladies to share their insight include casting director Tara Rubin, choreographer Lorin Latarro, composer Georgia Stitt, and Disney Theatrical producer Anne Quart…there’s even a chat with The Rockettes thrown in for a special holiday episode! Cara and Jessica adore bringing this podcast to the community, as well as building visibility and awareness of the working artist parent, and are thrilled to announce they will be back with season two in September…stay tuned!
Some of their favorite #truthbombs from guests include:
“We have to work on the macro. We can say, theater is gotta change, and it does, but if we are still getting shot in the damn street and still being policed and not even be able to have a lemonade stand while being black. If our house is literally burning down, it doesn’t matter how well we redecorate the living room, which is the theater community. We have to stop our house from burning down.” – Audra McDonald
Even now in quarantine, taking time for myself to just read a book, I feel guilty the entire time, when I desperately need 30 mins to sit outside in the quiet” – Sutton Foster
“There’s the ‘ethereal, breast-feeding in a field, everything’s perfect, sepia toned’ moms…& then there’s the ‘my kids are bastards, give me all the wine’ moms, with nothing in between. And so much of motherhood IS the in between.”- Laura Benanti
“When you hire an actor you are hiring a whole person, and we come with children.”- Caissie Levy
“Our kids are our loves, they are our mirrors. Everything we wish to be & everything we can’t stand about ourselves.”- Cheyenne Jackson
“The time for children to be contraband is over, and I feel an obligation to fix that.”- Anne Quart
https://broadwaypodcastnetwork.com/podcast/mamas-talkin-loud/
insta: @mamastalkinloud
twitter: @mamastalkinpod
Website: www.MamasTalkinLoud.com
Listen to the Audra McDonald episode by clicking here.