Stage Mother follows the story of Maybelline (Jacki Weaver), a Texas housewife and church choir director estranged from her gay son. When Maybelline learns of her son Ricky’s untimely death due to a drug overdose, she leaves her husband and travels to San Francisco to pay tribute to his life. When she arrives, she gets more than she bargained for, including inheriting her son’s drag club, confronting his mess of a best friend (Lucy Liu) and helping his boyfriend (Adrian Grenier) cope with the loss. Maybelline resolves to overhaul the drag club and make the queens into consummate cabaret performers. 

In this raucous, racy new environment, she begins to open up and find new meaning for her life, even becoming a mother-figure to the club’s flamboyant performers until a surprise visit threatens to upend her new life. A dance in your seat, music-infused comedy-drama that boasts a fiery supporting cast, including Lucy Liu, Adrian Grenier, Mya Taylor and drag superstar Jackie Beat.

While this may not be Oscar worthy, it certainly is a film that should be seen for it’s wonderful story line, and acting accolades.

Directed by Thom Fitzgerald, from a screenplay by Brad Hennig, Stage Mother had its world premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 4, 2020 and was released as VOD on August 21, 2020, by Momentum Pictures.

Fitzgerald also has a new series coming to OUTtv this fall. Cam Boy (8×30′) is a scripted series from Emotion Pictures, about a man who finds himself left to his own devices with bills to pay while his boyfriend is in New York, so he turns to camming to make ends meet. Fitzgerald fans can also catch his series, Sex and Violence, on OUTtv, as well as Splinters in select theatres and VOD platforms.

 

About the Author

Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist with a focus on travel, lifestyle, entertainment and hospitality. He has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He enjoys discovering delicious eats, tasting spirited treats, and being mesmerized by musical beats.