MOM PLAY To Premiere At Circle Festival 2025
Starring Rhonda Keyser and Juliette Charles, and directed by Ishq Pradhan, the production runs weekends August 30–October 19 at AMT Theater.
By: A.A. Cristi Aug. 12, 2025
As part of Circle Festival 2025, RJ Theatre Company will present Mom Play by Madelyn Slattery, a raw and loosely autobiographical drama about a daughter visiting her mother in prison in search of answers—and finding only more questions.
Directed by Ishq Pradhan, the production runs weekends from August 30 through October 19, 2025, at AMT Theater, 354 W 45th Street, New York. Tickets are $20–$53 and available at rjtheatrecompany.com.
Told with sharp humor and emotional restraint, Mom Play examines grief, shame, and the ache of inherited silence. The cast features Rhonda Keyser, an actress, voice-over artist, environmental educator, and grassroots organizer with credits including Validation by Daphne Macy, work with Tom Noonan, Luke Rosen, Derek Murphy, and Kristen Kosmas, and screen appearances opposite Tate Ellington, Sam Rockwell, and Jane Curtin. Juliette Charles, a New York native, most recently appeared in A Real Housewife: The Untold Story of a Bombshell at The Tank, and her stage credits include The Taming of the Shrew (Grumio), The Shelter (Mia), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck).
Director Ishq Pradhan, Founder & CEO of Amour Films and an NYU Tisch graduate, recently completed the film Portrait starring Emmy winner Jasmine Cephas Jones (Hamilton, Blindspotting), executive produced by Thomas Sadoski (The Newsroom), Omar Mullick (Flight/Risk), and Suroosh Alvi (VICE).
“Mom Play doesn’t flinch,” said Artistic Director Emma Tadmor. “Madelyn goes straight to the wounds families try hardest to hide.”
About Circle Festival
Launched in 2024, Circle Festival presents professionally staged theater without endless development or extravagant production budgets. Following a sold-out inaugural year, the 2025 festival moves to AMT Theater while preserving its immersive, front-row intimacy.
About RJ Theatre Company
RJ Theatre Company creates immediate, risk-taking work that prioritizes artistic integrity over commercial appeal. Circle Festival and other programs provide space for theatrical storytelling that is unfiltered, uncommodified, and fiercely original.
About The Actor Launchpad
The Actor Launchpad is a New York-based creative studio and production company that empowers actors through emotionally grounded, artistically bold work. The company produces cinematic demo reels, short films, and immersive workshops that explore the tension between inner truth and outward expression.
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