About the Project
Welcome to motherhood: the gravity’s crushing, the breast pump’s relentless, and the only escape is orbit. In this critically-acclaimed solo performance, Jessica reimagines herself as an astronaut after giving birth—not to explore new worlds, but to survive the unforgiving terrain of early parenthood. Eat the Mama is a wildly funny, deeply tender crash landing into being a mom, where love, shame, and everything you once knew comes undone. It’s comedy on the surface, truth at the core, and a journey into being completely devoured by love.
Writer/producer/performer Jessica Mele is a comedy writer and performer who co–founded San Francisco’s longest-running female-driven sketch comedy group, Chardonnay. Now based in LA, she spends her time as an unwilling participant in her son’s Lego Star Wars games and writing parody songs about the patriarchy.
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Instagram @eatthemamaplay
Reviews & Reactions
A “tangy, refreshingly honest solo show about motherhood.” – San Francisco Chronicle
“As a mother and advocate, I’m so incredibly grateful that you gave light to this in the way that you did. The darkness and lightness of motherhood and the dichotomy of love and torture is so hard to explain – and to do so in the way that you did, so artistically and bravely, is truly remarkable.” – Georgia Etheridge, The Pod Family Center
Production Team
