Summary

Calm Down Mother is a one act play about the phases and ultimate value of women's lives, exhibited through different characterizations and roles. The various characters are represented by only three women, who change roles during the different sections. When the play opens, the three women are huddled together to suggest some plant life form and remain that way during a reading by another woman who is not in view.

The reading speaks of three primal, one-celled creatures, which float and are propelled by the force of the water in which they live, until, at one point, they take root at the shore line instead of being washed out to sea again. It is then that one part breaks away and stretches bravely toward the sun.

The woman, who represents the part that has broken away, steps forward and announces that...