Community Cast Brings ‘Momming: The Musical’ to Stouffville Stages in January

• Stouffville writer and composer Carmelina Karas has cast Momming: The Musical, an original community production about the realities of motherhood.
• September auditions were fully booked, resulting in a cast of about 20.
• Roughly 90 percent of the performers are from Stouffville, and many are mothers themselves.
• The musical follows Ella, an expectant mother whose vision of being a “supermom” gives way to sleepless nights, chaos, and community-supported perseverance.
• Six performances are set for January at Harmony Hall, the Stained Glass Centre for the Performing Arts, and 19 on the Park.
• The Jan. 9 Moms and Media Preview at Harmony Hall is limited to 100 guests aged 19 and older and includes a meal, a drink, and a social.
• Tickets are sold online through links on the production’s Instagram account.

Nearly two months after putting out a casting call, Stouffville writer and composer Carmelina Karas has assembled her cast, booked three local venues, and set a January run for Momming: The Musical, her original community production about the realities of motherhood.

When Bullet Point News first reported on the production in September, Karas was preparing to hold auditions at Harmony Hall and Saints on Main. The response, she says, “absolutely exceeded” her expectations.

“Every slot was booked and then there was a wait list,” Karas told Bullet Point News and 102.9 Whistle Radio. “I was blown away by the interest and the support from everyone that wanted to be in the show.”

The result is a cast of about 20, including double-cast roles, understudies, and ensemble members, roughly 90 percent of whom are from Stouffville, Karas said. Most of the young performers came from Harriet Chung Performing Arts, while the majority of adults are mothers themselves.

Three cast members never signed up to audition at all. Staff at Saints on Main noticed auditions underway in the restaurant’s lower level and came downstairs to ask what was happening. When they told Karas they sing, she gave them an audition on the spot.

“I said, ‘OK, here’s your audition right now on the spot. Go,'” she recalled. All three made the cast.

A Story Years in the Making

The musical follows Ella, an expectant mother who believes she has it all figured out, Karas explained. With her nursery set and her hospital plans in place, she is certain she will be a “supermom.”

After giving birth, Ella is thrust into a reality that looks nothing like she pictured, from sleepless nights and toys everywhere to other mothers judging her choices. As she navigates those challenges, community support emerges as a central theme, captured in Karas’s original song “It Takes a Village.”

Karas, whose children are now 4 and 7, says the story grew out of her own experience. When she first became a mother, she started a WhatsApp group for Stouffville moms that grew into a large online community. She says she sees members’ stories, questions, and struggles there daily.

After the birth of her second child, Karas realized the story “needed to be told.” Given her musical background, she felt a musical was the best way to tell it.

She wrote the songs and a draft script three or four years ago before setting them aside. A few months ago, she says, “the musical melodies and the songs just sort of came to me one day,” and she decided it was time to move her vision into production.

Off the stage, Karas works full-time in sales and marketing. Learning to compose and harmonize in band and choir, she wrote songs and played open mics through high school, university, and young adulthood. Writing a full-length musical, however, was something entirely new.

“I know how to write the music. I know how to use the software to compose the tracks. I know how to record, and I can sing, and I can write, and let’s just see what happens,” she recalled. “I just had an idea, and I’m running with it,” she said.

It’s Showtime

As opening night approaches, Karas says she is proud of her homegrown cast and crew, particularly the young performers taking their roles so seriously. The youngest is her 4-year-old daughter, who decided “out of nowhere” that she wanted to be on stage.

She describes the process of writing, composing, and working with the team as both enlightening and humbling.

“Just because I thought I could do this in my head doesn’t mean I actually really could in reality,” Karas said. “But everyone’s helping, right? It takes a village, and that’s what’s happening. It’s coming together as a true community musical, where everyone has a part.”

The production opens Jan. 9 at Harmony Hall with a Moms and Media Preview, a 19-and-older night for mothers and media that includes a meal, a drink, and a social.

Three shows follow at the Stained Glass Centre for the Performing Arts, one on Jan. 15 and two on Jan. 16, before the production closes with two final performances at 19 on the Park on Jan. 30. Tickets are available via links above or through the production’s Instagram account.

With files from Ron de Roo.