Pearson’s ‘Mother’: Stupefying Sermons

Carol Lynn Pearson’s one-woman “Mother Wove the Morning” at the Ivar Theatre consists of a series of 16 monologues from various women in history, from the Bible to the present.

The soliloquies, which invariably deplore patriarchal abuses and argue for the return of “the Goddess” to her rightful place in the heavens, degenerate into a stupefying sermon that will send even the most ardent New Agers fleeing for the exits.

Pearson sports a drapey white tunic, flinging her arms wide in benedictory attitudes that would shame Aimee Semple McPherson. One passage ends in tears. “She does that to me every time,” she confides about the character. Aside from hers, there’s not a wet eye in the house.

* “Mother Wove the Morning,” Ivar Theatre, 1605 Ivar Ave., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends June 24. $17. (213) 464-3667. Also at the Curtis Theatre, One Civic Center Circle, Brea. Thursdays only, 8 p.m. Ends June 22. (714) 990-7722. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.