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From The PLAYWRIGHT
Roe Versus Wade
Roots, Angels In America, The Normal Heart, Selma. These iconic works create shared public experiences of recognition, engagement and assessment with our most significant social movements. They underscore the individuals: flawed, complex, vulnerable and their enormous efforts that have propelled our country forward and back again. They tell us who we are, and they help create who we are going to be. Yet, there has never been a major theatrical work, novel or film about the struggle for women’s rights. No piece of cultural expression has been permitted into American public letters that unites us in thinking about American women as flawed, humane heroes engaged in gargantuan tasks towards autonomy and agency. BY: Sarah Schulman
OUR THINKING
Director’s Statement
It's an artists job is to hold the mirror up to nature, to reflect society.
We took on this play because it is the year of the woman. Time for us to embrace what we have in common, a time for us to recognize our allies, and to walk in others’ shoes.
Freedom ain’t free.
“Anything in life can be healed. “ Roe Versus Wade.
PRO-LIFE PROTEST IMAGES
Though gruesome and upsetting, the images of the broken, bloodied fetuses in this production are accurate to the time and serve as a reminder of the anti-abortion protests that started in the 1960s and continue to happen today. Many pro-life supporters believed that these pictures were a way for the victim (in this case a baby or fetus) to tell their story. Those who used these images to protest believed that abortion photos were the only way the for the victims of "America’s Holocaust" to tell their story. Religious figures often turned to pictures like these after failing to find words to describe what they believed to be genocide and murder.
By: Clara Steeves
ABOUT GERALDINE IMAGE
Pictured is Geraldine “Gerri” Santoro (August 16, 1935- June 8, 1964), an American woman who died from an illegal abortion.
Six and a half months into her pregnancy, Gerri, and the father of her baby, Dixon, checked into a motel in Connecticut under aliases. They planned on performing a self-induced abortion using surgical instruments and a textbook. When Gerri started to hemorrhage, Dixon fled the hotel, leaving Gerri behind. She died at the age of 28, and her body was found the next morning by a maid.
Dixon was apprehended three days later. He was charged with manslaughter, and “conspiracy to commit abortion”, and was sentenced to a year and a day in prison.
Police took a photo of Gerri’s body upon finding it. This picture was published in Ms. magazine in April 1973. It has since become a symbol in the Pro- Choice movement, used to illustrate that access to legal, professionally performed abortion reduces deaths from unsafe abortion.
By: Kelsey Longwill
MUSIC
Our soundtrack choices are born from our storytelling. The collaborative process and our final product was entirely a Capella (without instrumental accompaniment). These pieces carry us through this whirlwind of a story, from 1965 to 2013, remaining faithful to the dramatized years.
Carson and I reimagined many of these classic songs to take us from scene to scene. Check out the recordings of our new versions! By: Mary Paola
The Team
THE CAST
“Without you, the audience, there is no reason for our work. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. ”