PBS Detroit to feature Manchester author, playwright next month

Breeda Miller relaxes in her Cup & Saucer Cottage while chatting about her Next Big Thing.

by Marsha Chartrand

“We’ve come a long way and our Journey with Mrs. Kelly keeps getting better,” says Breeda (Kelly) Miller.

Mark your calendars for the Detroit PBS premiere of “Mrs. Kelly’s Journey Home,” broadcast on the local PBS station on Monday, December 16, at 8pm.

Woo-hoo! It’s really happening! And Manchester itself gets its own little preview of the premiere on Sunday, December 8, at 1pm at the historic K-J House. There will be a short presentation, a reading by Breeda, a book signing and launch party for her new book, and other merchandise for sale—an informal setting for this hometown event.

“I’m just so excited,” Breeda admits. Working with PBS has been a dream of hers for at least three years, since she started work on the “Mrs. Kelly” project. But the dream seemed elusive, just beyond reach, for so long. Finally the connections were made and last fall, things started to gel. It seemed like maybe something might open up when she got the gig at the popular Penn Theater in Plymouth, and ironically the Tipping Point Theater in downtown Northville provided the “turning point” for her to tape a preview to hand to PBS.

Likewise, there are time limits to a theatrical production that mean that some of the components of the original play end up on the “cutting-room floor,” so to speak. Much of that has landed in Breeda’s new book, which will debut right here in Manchester on the 8th. A week later, the PBS production airs, and that will be a little bit “bigger deal.”

It may have been a roller coaster till that point, but it’s been all downhill since then, Breeda admits. “I’m just so delighted and grateful for how (the show’s) been received so far, and how actually the broadcast version is not a downgrade from live theater — it’s simply making it more accessible to more people who otherwise might never have seen it. I’m so lucky I have been able to take the show live to so many places, but this is just giving it wider opportunities. I know I have to be open to whatever happens and grateful for the opportunities that place themselves in my path. …

“After all, I’ve got no goals to take it to Broadway, but if they invited me, I’d not be rude.”

Breeda Miller’s new book.

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.