And Her Children

News that shakes the foundations of America is usually filtered through headlines and broadcasts, flattened by repetition and distance. “And Her Children” dares to place that same emotional weight on a theatrical stage, and the result is both devastating and necessary. Created by Rosie Glen Lambert and Hailey McAfee, this is a rare piece of theatre that confronts modern tragedy without spectacle, trusting the audience to sit with discomfort and complexity.

At the center of the story is Anna Fierling, a woman caught between public duty and personal loss. She becomes the face of an issue while simultaneously grieving the loss of her child. The collision of career, morality, and motherhood drives the piece, and it never looks away from the cost of that collision. What unfolds is not a debate, but a lived crisis. The audience is placed inside a shifting emotional landscape where professional expectations and private devastation cannot coexist peacefully.

The design elements work in quiet harmony. Raphael Mishler’s simple set supports the narrative without distraction, allowing the focus to remain on the human stakes. Padra Crisafulli’s sound design deepens the emotional undercurrent, while Russell Chow’s lighting shifts the mood with precision, guiding the audience through moments of reflection and reckoning. Each element serves the story rather than competing with it.

The script is carefully crafted to do more than tell a story. It immerses the audience in Anna’s world, a culture defined by moral compromise, public messaging, and irreversible change. This is a portrait of crisis familiar to anyone who values both career and family, and who understands how quickly those values can be forced into opposition. The show exposes truths the media rarely handles with care, especially when it comes to spokespersonship, branding, and corporate corruption in the face of human loss.

Rosie Glen Lambert’s direction is clear in its intent and unflinching in its vision. The political context of gun reform, school shootings, and the children of gun owners is present without being didactic. The subject matter is taboo, the execution deeply human. Costume design by Mallory McAfee subtly transforms the central figure from a perceived enemy into someone painfully recognizable, a shift that lands with quiet power.

By the final moments, as Julia Hoffman’s violin carries the weight of trauma and memory, the room feels suspended. When the lights fade, the silence is earned. This is theatre doing what theatre is meant to do. It confronts, unsettles, and insists on being heard. What is spoken here does not disappear. It stays.

And Her Children

Starring Hailey McAfee

Performed at The Soho Playhouse

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Matthew is an award-winning playwright and actor! While he loves being on the stage and writing theatrical-thought-provoking-innovational plays, his passions follow him backstage as well! As a student studying business and consulting for entertainment at the School of Professional Studies, CUNY, BBA. Matthew is honored to work on this special showcase full of talent and hardworking individuals. He's selected previous theatrical experience includes Those Who Remained at La Mama E.T.C. (Producer, Props), BMCC CUNY (stage management and performance degree), The Lake (Playwright), and Earth (playwright). He is extremely grateful for the mentors and individuals, and organizations that have given him his resources and support to keep theatre alive. @matthew.d.foster