“Mrs. Kelly” heads back to Ireland, and more!

Breeda Miller’s one-woman show, Mrs. Kelly’s Journey Home, will present a benefit show in November for the historic Penn Theatre in Plymouth. (Photo credit: Penn Theatre photographer Pete Mundt)

by Marsha Chartrand

Breeda Miller has a lot on her mind this month.

First, she’s getting ready for her trip to Ireland September 18–29. She’s taking along friends and family for a tour of the Emerald Isle, and while she’s in the neighborhood, so to speak, she will present one performance of her play, Mrs. Kelly’s Journey Home, as a fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland. The performance will be held at the An Táin Arts Centre in Dundalk on September 22.

“I hope to see a lot of my cousins while I’m there, too,” Breeda says. “And although Ireland is about the same size as the lower peninsula of Michigan, travel is not as easy, so I don’t know how many will be able to make it to the performance. But I hope this is just my first tour of Ireland, and I’ll be able to book more tours in the future.

“I couldn’t think of a higher honor, actually.”

She appreciates the trust that is being put in her by her tour companions as well as by the An Táin Arts Center, realizing that this is all new to them. “They’ve never actually seen the play, so they don’t know what they’re getting into, really,” she says with a chuckle. “I’m so grateful for that trust.”

Last weekend, the theater tweeted “@BreedaMiller brings to life a funny and often profound look at her mother’s journey from her native Ireland through the end of her life, charting the type of experiences felt by generations of immigrants and adults caring for their aged parents.”

And last week marked the culmination of even more “trust” and a bit of the serendipity that seems to follow Mrs. Kelly around.

“There has been a great deal of interest in bringing the show to Wayne and Oakland counties,” Breeda said. “We have tried to do mostly matinees, but we’re also trying to figure out a wonderful venue that people want to go to on an evening out, that’s easily accessible by freeway, etc.

“There are many wonderful small venues, but they’d have to charge a lot to make money in a fundraiser. We have been looking at Plymouth and we found the ideal spot — the Penn Theatre in downtown Plymouth on the square. It’s a renovated movie house, with about 400 seats. It’s community run and staffed by volunteers.”

The venue has hosted movies but never a play, so Breeda is excited to be the “first” of her genre to take the stage at the Penn on November 19.

“There will be two performances, a matinee, and evening performance,” explains Breeda. “They need to raise funds to maintain and restore the theater so all proceeds will go to that effort. It’s a beloved place, it’s a destination in Plymouth and around the area.

“And everything happened in the span of an hour,” she added, amazed. “Signed, sealed, and photographed! We made some great connections and the angels have come together again to tell my mother’s story.”

Another big date on Breeda’s calendar is March 16, St. Patrick’s Day Eve, with a return performance at the Beverly Arts Center in Chicago for a matinee and evening show. She also has a strong possibility for a show in North Carolina in February.

“I’m not interested in doing an extended tour that’s going to take me away from Manchester for months at a time,” she said, “but I do enjoy the journey and the explorations around our destinations. We had another great connection with a former Manchester resident, Manette London, who got us booked at a new venue that had just been built in Curtis, Michigan (in the U.P.), and that led to an invitation from the Alzheimer’s Association in Marquette to do a show there.

“It’s always exciting that people hear about it and are reaching out to me, and I don’t have to go out and market. Word of mouth has been wonderful. I’m thrilled.”

A link for tickets to the November 19 performances at the Penn Theatre in Plymouth will soon be available on Breeda’s website, breedamiller.com. Tickets start at $25 with VIP tickets available for $40, offering prime seating with a post-event reception, a meet and greet, and apple pie.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.