my mother’s keeper is a constellation of work exploring the possibilities of organizing in alignment with care; a meditation on child care, elder care, hospice care. PETE will be producing a series of performances, events, workshops and engagements over the next 3 years (2022-25) in relation to these themes. consider·ation is the first of these. 

my mother’s keeper explores caregiving as an organizing principle for social and economic change. Envisioned as a constellation; a series of performances, events, and interactions oriented around a shared theme or question, the piece seeks to explore caregiving in our current moment and the possibilities of a future where care is at the center of how we relate to each other and our world. The final form the project will take includes a documentary theatre piece created in partnership with home-health workers, long term care residents and parents of young children. The piece will center the voices of folx who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color as well as other marginalized voices to bring visibility to those on the front-lines of caregiving. Other pieces in the constellation include an interactive storytelling workshop for long-term care residents and employees, celebrating and honoring the stories and lived experience of our elders and those that care for them. Finally, the piece will create a mutual aid society for caregivers and parents in the Portland metro region, creating a space to practice a vision of  community care. This work is born out of our personal experience as parents, as caregivers to parents in home-hospice, as children of home-health aids, as people who are acutely awake to Rosalyn Carter’s statement that “there are four kinds of people in the world: those who are currently caregivers, those who have been caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.”