The Mom Squad

I first heard about the Mom Squad when I was putting on a pig costume. It was in February 2025, and we were rehearsing for a production of Shrek the Musical. I was playing one of the Three Little Pigs. This was my first show with Branch Out Productions, a community theatre company in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I went into the costume room to try on my pig costume, and there I saw a plastic bucket labelled in black Sharpie: Mom Squad (DO NOT TOUCH). The bucket was filled with measuring tape, needles and thread, scissors, and everything someone would need to make a costume.

The Mom Squad at Branch Out Productions' studio, in the costume room. Names left to right: Nadine Cassie Long, Krista Blunston, Kari Hall, Stacie Cougle, Esther Greenslade. (Credit: Jasmine LaPointe)

I later learned that Kari Hall, who was playing one of the other two pigs, was a member of the Mom Squad. Kari has short, copper hair, round glasses and is a teacher at Gesner Street Elementary School. She came to every rehearsal after a long day of teaching, yawning and tired. But every time I looked at her, she had a big smile on her face. After meeting Kari, I wanted to know more about Mom Squad and the source behind that smile. So, a few months later, I went to meet them.

I’ve been a theatre kid since Grade 6. My first role was playing a wealthy grandmother who died in the first act. I had to lie still on a gurney for the entire second act. And just like that, I was hooked, and theatre has been a part of my life since. I am currently in my fourth year of studying musical theatre at St. Thomas University, and I teach musical theatre to kids at Theatre New Brunswick. After I graduate this spring, I plan to study to become a teacher and one day run theatre classes of my own. I was going to see the Mom Squad to tell a story. But I also went to see if they might help guide me in some way on my journey.

On a cool fall Thursday evening, I arranged to meet the Mom Squad at Branch Out Production’s studio. The studio is on the North Side of Fredericton in a small, rented building they share with a gym and the Habitat for Humanity Restore. When I walked into the studio space, I looked at the posters of past Branch Out shows hung in frames on all the walls. Attached to that room was a cluttered space filled with costumes, wigs, heating irons, and sewing machines.

Branch Out's costume room. (Credit: Jasmin LaPointe)

There, I found the unofficial Squad leader, Stacie Cougle, with her head lowered to her sewing machine, her glasses sliding down the bridge of her nose. Stacie has short, grey hair, a focused, narrow face and round cheeks. She’s bubbly, but also stern when she needs to be. She welcomed me in as she continued measuring and cutting fabric, making the dresses for Branch Out’s current production, The Sound of Music. She began telling me how Mom Squad started.

In the beginning, Stacie was making costumes in her basement. Her first project was sewing the costumes for the orphans in a production of Annie. Then Branch Out rented a space at Gibson Memorial Church, and she did her work there. After rehearsals, Stacie would go down to the church’s basement and do costume work. The basement was dark and dank, with no windows and an old-timey smell. The place felt “like ghosts lived there,” Stacie said.

As Stacie talked, other members of Mom Squad trickled in. Krista Blunston was standing over Stacie, complimenting the beige and brown fabric she was working with. Krista has long strawberry blonde hair tossed into a ponytail and square black glasses that lift when she smiles.

Krista Ironing costumes for Branch Out's current production, The Sound of Music. (Credit: Jasmin LaPointe)

Krista has a loud, infectious laugh that always makes you smile. Nadine Cassie Long emerged from the costume room with a yellow measuring tape in hand. Then three more members of Mom Squad arrived: Kari, Terri McNeil, and Eshter Greenslade.

Stacie, Krista and Nadine all had daughters in Branch Out’s Junior production of Willy Wonka in 2022. And as their daughters became friends, so did they. They started making costumes, sourcing props and working on set pieces together. People noticed the abundance of work they were putting into their kids’ productions. So, people at Branch Out started calling them the “Mom Squad.”

“We thought it was hilarious,” and the name stuck ever since, Krista said.

Kari made the T-shirts for the Willy Wonka production. However, Kari claims she became an official member of Mom Squad during The Little Mermaid production, when her son was a part of it. Stacie had known Terri beforehand from working at the Government of New Brunswick office together. They went to a records management seminar together, and Stacie sat by her. Terri’s son just started going to summer camp at Branch Out, and Stacie knew how creative and handy she was, so she invited her to join Mom Squad.

Terri officially joined the Mom Squad when Branch Out put on a production of Elf the Musical in 2023. When asked about Elf, the moms all looked at each other, saying no costume was as bad as the fur in Elf. They had to cut strips of fur and sew them onto the bottom of the elves’ slips. “It was up our noses, it was in our machines, it was everywhere,” Stacie said.

“My god, they were beautiful though,” Terri said as she showed me pictures of snowflakes embossed in the fur, the hats, and the shoe covers they made.

When they were making all of this for Elf, Branch Out was in a different rented space down the hall from where they are now. The moms said the lighting in that space was terrible. So, they set up tables in the hallway to sew. There was better light and more electrical sockets for their sewing machines. Stacie was acting in the production of Elf and making costumes. She remembers running up and down the hall, from acting to sewing.

Terri is cutting fabric, and Stacie is sewing costumes for the Sound of Music. (Credit: Jasmin LaPointe)

The Mom Squad originally started with small elective projects for the Junior shows, and now they are Branch Out’s production team for their current show, The Sound of Music. Stacie is the costume designer, and Terri also helps with costumes; they oversee sourcing and making 200 costumes. Krista is one of the production managers, and Kari is the show’s set designer and prop master. On top of the work they do, Kari and Terri also portray two nuns in the show.

“It’s the look on the kids’ faces when they try their costumes on for the first time,” Krista says. The rest of the moms agreed, smiling. I remember trying on my costume for my first high school musical. I was Grandma Josephine in Willy Wonka. I wore a light-pink nightgown, a ratty grey shawl, and a short, curly wig. I was so excited to draw wrinkles on my face and play the role.

“It’s not just my kid I love; I love all the kids,” Stacie says. Branch Out Productions put on a production of The Little Mermaid in 2024. All the moms sat together in the audience watching their kids perform the number Under the Sea. The kids came out in their bright red, pink, blue, and green colored costumes. The set was beautiful, alive with coral reefs, seaweed, and blue accents, making it look like they were underwater. All the moms were sitting in the audience. They all locked eyes with each other, smiling and crying happy tears.

Terri said that her son was older when coming to Branch Out. Stacie and Krisa’s daughters had arrived at Branch Out much earlier. A couple of years ago, Terri’s son came to summer camp and did The Lion King.

He left that week and said, “Mom, I found my people.”

Branch Out is a company where everyone is accepted with open arms. The Junior shows have kids ranging from Grade 3 to Grade 11, “yet they all get along,” Nadine says.

Theatre binds us and brings us together. People find unexpected friendships that last a lifetime. The moms love each other’s company, whether it be going out for drinks or making costumes. They support each other. Stacie explains how she crams as many kids as can fit into her tiny Spark, driving them to rehearsal. They trust each other. Nadine talked about having an emergency last year during her daughter’s rehearsal. She had to drop everything and go, and she knew her daughter would be fine because of the Mom Squad.

A mom named Esther Greenslade sat quietly on the couch, listening to the story unfold. As I was packing up my things, she spoke for the first time. She stood straight and said, “I love Mom Squad.”

She further explained how grateful she was to be in this group, “Being a mom and when you're older, it’s hard to make friends, but I’m glad I have you guys,” she said.

I left them there as they continued sewing, measuring and painting. I walked out of the studio and into the night, still hearing the mom’s laughter and the sound of a sewing machine. As the sounds faded, I remembered Esther’s line. “I’m glad I have you guys.”

All my life, I’ve been consumed by what happens on stage. It was about the acting, the staging, and the harmonies. But I was missing a big part of the script; the part that happens on the other side of the stage in a cluttered costume room with a bucket labelled in black Sharpie: Mom Squad (DO NOT TOUCH).