In Words
Audience members
“One of the best plays I’ve seen … the images still remain alive within me.”
- Allyson McQuinn, Ottawa, Canada
“If you’ve had a baby, you will enjoy it and even if you didn’t. My husband was tearing up.”
- Theatre-goer, BOLD 2008 Philadelphia, PA
“A powerful presentation about the reality of birth options in America. Much to think about.”
- Rachelle Lessen, MS, RD, IBCLC
“In the two productions of BIRTH that I have seen, the audience was on the edge of their seats laughing out loud in some parts and crying in others.”
- Stephanie Shearer
“Moving, very funny, REAL!”
- theatergoer, BOLD 2010 Fort Wayne, Indiana
“I was moved, enlightened, and felt like I was not alone in how I felt after giving birth.”
- theater-goer, BOLD 2010 St Louis, Missouri
“Laughed, cried, cheered!”
- theategoer, BOLD 2010 St. Louis, Missouri
“This was a great educational piece that I liked to watch. Personally, I would like to have birth naturally but I need to research more about it in the future. This play has gotten me started. Thank you!”
- Linda Nguyen 18 years old, student at University of Florida, Gainesville
“I have a whole new outlook on pregnancy and the birth process, and a greater respect for women who have given birth.”
- Brian ,18 years old, University of Florida, Gainesville
BOLD Organizers
“Local groups in our area collaborated to organize BIRTH because we saw it as a way to attract a different type of audience. A way to start a dialogue about childbirth in a manner that is fresh and different. The audience in our location loved the play because it combined entertainment and education in a thought provoking manner. It brought to light some of the issues with the current maternity care system.”
- Julie Herr, BOLD 2009 and 2010 St Louis
“We did 3 performances of Birth. At the final performance, our talkback panel included a husband/wife team: an obstetrician also in charge of the residency training program at our local hospital and his wife, a local family practice doctor. The obstetrician expressed his disappointment that he couldn’t convince more of his residents to attend the play because he felt it had an important message they needed to hear. So, I said we would be happy to do a special performance for them and he agreed! The next week we performed Birth for the residents at the hospital!”
- Kirsti Kreutzer, BOLD 2008 Organizer, Wilmington, North Carolina
“We performed the play last spring and the response was spectacular… it did not push an agenda. It made the audience think about a woman’s experience and everyone was able to gain from the performance, whether they were a man, woman, single, young, old or grandparents. This play was a wonderful blend of truth, activism and entertainment. I would encourage more communities to be brave enough to talk about our birth experiences….it was an experience we will remember the rest of our lives.”
- BOLD 2009 Manitoba Canada
“Without pushing an agenda of midwife vs. physician or medicated vs. unmedicated, BOLD seeks to inform, empower and heal women, as well as the state of childbirth in the world today. I have repeatedly seen audiences moved to laughter, tears and outrage by this play”
- BOLD Organizer
Maternity Care Experts
“I support the BOLD movement with every fiber of my being.”
–Dr. Christianne Northrup, bestselling women’s health author, Women’s Bodies Women’s Wisdom
“Stories are powerful. Brody’s dramatization of real women’s experiences in pregnancy and birth does women an enormous service by helping them understand how much is riding on the choices they make.”
–Henci Goer, author of the Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth and Obstetric Myths versus Research Realities
“Karen Brody’s play, Birth, takes its many audiences on a long and full, and disturbing and wonderful, journey through the very real narratives of eight mothers-to-be. The viewers come away with an expanded set of perceptions about birth possibilities, empowered thereby to make their own informed choices. The play is engrossing, engaging—it varies between dark and light moments, tears of sorrow and tears of joy, and at the end, it’s all about women supporting each other to achieving their birthing hopes and dreams.”
–Robbie Davis-Floyd, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Texas Austin, Fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Board Member of the International MotherBaby Childbirth organization, and author of Birth as an American Rite of Passage.
“BE BOLD is more than a statement we should all live by – it is a movement that BOLD and Karen Brody’s play Birth are taking around the world, inspiring young and old that our Body Rocks! Each time I see the play I am inspired by the insights and passion it stirs in the audience as well as in the organizations that are working to help us make a difference one birth at a time. Having been a part of the play, as well as in the audience in many parts of the world, I encourage you to Be BOLD and share this powerful, creative message of caring how we welcome life into the world.”
–Debra Pascali-Bonaro, LCCE, CD (DONA), PCD (DONA); Chair International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative, DONA International Doula/Doula Trainer, Director Orgasmic Birth: The Best Kept Secret
“Karen Brody’s Birthis the beautiful result of the coming together of art and activism. The common passions that fuel us as creators, mothers, lovers and warriors are powerfully present in this play. It’s been thrilling to watch Birth and the whole BOLD movement, inform and inspire audiences all around the globe.”
–Elan McAllister, Founder and Chairman, Choices in Childbirth
“I have loved being a part of the BOLD movement, appearing five times in the play, attending performances and appearing in talk backs. What an excellent way to inspire women and help them express the myriad emotions and explore choices around modern birth practices! Thank you, Karen for allowing me to be a part of such an amazing and necessary movement.”
–Barbara Harper, RN, CLD, CCCD; Founder – Waterbirth International, Author – Gentle Birth Choices
