I've just returned from a wonderful opening weekend of BIRTH in Richmond, Virginia and want to share some of it with you.
Last year Hallie Lacy, a doula in Richmond and all-around "do-it" kind of person approached me about bringing the play to Richmond. Hallie must have called me 5 or 6 times trying to get me to commit to Richmond. At the time BIRTH had had only two staged readings and Hallie saw the second one (at CIMS) and loved it. She wanted the people of Richmond both in and outside the birth community to experience the play. So she approached the Firehouse Theatre Project and they eagerly embraced doing a 2-week run of the play in January 2006.
Hallie assembled a team of women willing to help her put financial backing to the play and other production needs. What a team she assembled: Katie, Leslie and Valley all jumped into producing the play. The foursome, who call themselves the Birth Arts Council, went even further and organized a birth festival around the two weeks when the play was running. By the night the play opened they had assembled an impressive group of artists to display their art work at the Firehouse Theatre around the theme of birth. They also organized dance and film events that celebrated birth. It was a huge acheivement from 4 inspiring women.
I'm in awe of the wonderful job Shanea Taylor did directing BIRTH at the Firehouse. As Shanea joked one night, "I don't know nothing 'bout birthin' no babies," but that didn't seem to matter as she really got many of the subtle points I try to make in the play. The actors also all delivered powerful performances. I loved talking with them all the two nights I attended the play. They told me that the play has bonded them as women forever. I've been overwhelmed at how many actors are sayig this to me, that this play is unlike any other they have been in because sharing such intimate moments onstage and the way several of the actors are part of other actors' birth scenes fosters a support team between the cast both on and off stage. This is truly becoming the unexpected "side story" to writing this play. I never imagined how much the actors would enjoy doing the play! And how much fun everyone would have practicing the birth sounds with several doulas in Richmond during rehearsals.
I loved meeting many people in Richmond who gave me a pretty good sense of what birth options exist for women in Richmond. One morning I met with Michelle Andrews at her home, an inspiring African-American midwife (the only one in Richmond), who gave me a clear picture of the challenging atmosphere women face giving birth in the hospital today - and especially low-income women.
I also spent a fun evening with a large bunch of doulas and childbirth educators from the Richmond area. While there is alot to learn from many people in the maternity field about birth, to me, if you really want to know about birth in a community it's essential to talk to the doulas. They really know birth from many viewpoints as they're in hospitals and also interact with midwives and the homebirth crowd. Our evening lasted to the early hours of the morning... loved it.
