Broadway’s ‘Here Lies Love’ offers free childcare for weekend matinee
NEW YORK CITY - This Saturday will mark the first time a Broadway show has ever provided free childcare for parents.
Mother and actor Grace Berryman will be there—at the Broadway Theatre for a performance of Here Lies Love.
She will leave her three-year-old and five-year-old in the hands of official caregivers, so she can come to the show’s Saturday matinee.
The service—which is completely free and covered by the show’s producers—is a product of Rachel J. S. Hewitt, who is also an actor and who knows the struggle of being a parent while working in theatre.
"I turned down about 95% of my auditions because the contracts paid less than I would pay a sitter per week," Hewitt said.
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The couple met in 1995 on the set of an Australian television show.
She started the Parent Artist Advocacy League, which runs what it calls "a childcare matinee." Their first partnership with a Broadway show is this Saturday’s Here Lies Love 3:30 performance.
Hewitt says the organization partners with babysitters who are insured and CPR-certified.
Clint Ramos is the lead producer on Here Lies Love, a musical by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim that explores the rise and fall of the authoritarian regime of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. The show marks Broadway’s first-ever all-Filipino cast.
Ramos calls the decision to partner with PAAL "a no-brainer."
As a father himself, he says finding childcare is often one of the biggest hurdles to seeing a show.
"The way we’ve created Here Lies Love is about community, and really one of our missions is to create access. And I can’t think of any other show that’s more perfect for that," Ramos said.