I went to an impressive play last night, written by Karen Brody entitled Birth. It’s like a Vagina Monologues, but about childbirth. Eight women, sitting on stage, sharing their birth stories with the audience and each other. Karen wrote the play after talking to over a hundred women around the United States about their childbirth experiences.
The play is being staged internationally this month, in honor of labor day and as part of a “global movement to make maternity care child friendly.”
The production in New York City, directed by Helen Marshall, was really great–an amazing group of professional actresses made up the cast. I attended a rehearsal for the show the week prior (Karen recommends that they have doulas at every rehearsal, to serve as birth “experts”) and then participated in a panel after the show, with some other great NYC birth activists, including midwife Laura Zeidenstein, doula and nurse Patricia Rangeli and Erica Lyon, the founder of Real Birth.
You can check out this page to see if there is going to be a BOLD production in your area, and think about participating next year.
My favorite line of the play: <a conversation between midwife and laboring mom>
Laboring woman: It hurts like hell!
Midwife: Great! That’s exactly how it’s supposed to feel!
Radical Doula 