Hail Mary

When Mary Claire Monaghan returns home for her alcoholic father's funeral, just one year sober herself, she enters a maelstrom of desires. Her sisters, Mary Theresa and Mary Ann, both want her to save them, and her mother, Mary, still competes with Claire for their love. Claire, vulnerable in her sobriety, must decide between caring for her sisters and caring for herself. Combining an absurd sense of Catholic tradition - including Catholic wakes and confessions along with Mary iconography - with the drama of death and abandonment, this solo performance takes us into the heart of an alcoholic legacy, where love is defined by sacrifice and denial.

Family and Other Strangers

Based on Lyralen's poetry manuscript with the same title, this show combines performance poetry, monologue and educational narrative to illustrate the profound dignity and strength of the human spirit in facing overwhelming obstacles. Performed for Zero Tolerance for Violence week, the show offers clear insight into the realities of family violence without ever becoming didactic. The monologues themselves reach to the experience of a life lived, rather than to an easy polemic, and, in so doing, create a tapestry for hope.

Saviors

Holy Cross College, after hiring Lyralen to perform Family and Other Strangers, asked her to write a show for Women's History Month. Saviors, a collage of monologues and poems in the voices of women speaking to friendship, family relationships and the mother-daughter dyad, was the result. As the collection of voices builds, it reveals the essential human connections that women can have with each other, and develops a sense of personal history the audience can relate to, one that recognizes ordinary people as heroes.

Upcoming Shows

Lyralen continues to develop more innovative solo pieces, including her current work-in-progress, My Mother and the Nun. She also works with educational institutions, tailoring the length of her performances and their focus to the educational goals of the administrators. Please contact her for more information.