Too Real to Be Funny, But It Is

Susan-Kate Heaney speaks to mops. They are her friends.

She’s an NYU graduate, with a blossoming acting career. She just married the man of her dreams too.

Wait a second. Susan-Kate Heaney speaks to mops? They are her friends?

Yes, she does and yes, they are.

A true to life one-woman show based on her love and friendships with over 30 mops and the effect they’ve had on her, Heaney’s show is 100 percent original. Well-written and pop-culturally sound [the Boyz II Men and Little Mermaid segments are both hilarious], there isn’t another show like this in New York City.

It manages to be consistently wacky, yet remarkably heartfelt- a coming of age story that delivers in ways that you don’t expect it to.

It all starts from her first encounter with a stick-figured, tangle-haired cleaning device and ends where she is now, a good actor who’s comfortable with herself and where her life is going. Although you’ll find yourself laughing at most of her situations, you’ll pull for her. Through a child-like innocence and a warm smile, she makes herself instantly likeable. Sure, she’s weird. She might even be a little crazy. But through it all, she’s funny and passionate on stage.

It may be ultimately difficult to see her in another role after this, but with a wide range of accents and plenty of charisma, it’s impossible to not get hooked on this show and be optimistic of what her future holds in theatre and film.

Aside from the overall fun that comes from Heaney’s performance, the addition of footage from her friends, family and in-laws, who describe Heaney and her obsession, make the show something more. To see Heaney on stage, in discussion about this, in front of people, can’t be easy for her. However, while this is based on reality, it’s obvious Heaney has fun while she’s on stage. That passion immediately resonates with the crowd and like her, it’s difficult to wipe the smile off your face during the performance.

After the 75-minute performance [which is paced excellently and absolutely flies by], Heaney held a charming Q & A session that opened up the floodgates. Many of the questions were cute, but the elderly crowd was a bit harsh. Among a few zingers, they asked, “Do you have any real friends” and “Were you lonely as a child”?

While this would have made any average Joe shed a tear, Heaney never lost her smile.

You won’t either.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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