Birth by Karen Brody
“‘The Vagina Monologues’ has helped free vaginas the world over – as well as their owners. Now it’s time to do the same for the birth canal – and pregnant women everywhere. And that is the power and glory contained in this magnificent, funny, and wonderfully wise play.”
- Dr. Christiane Northrup, MD, FACOG, author of Women’s Bodies Women’s Wisdom
Birth is a documentary-style play based on over one hundred interviews Karen Brody conducted with pregnant mothers across America about their birth experiences. It tells the true stories of 8 women painting a portrait of how low-risk, educated women are giving birth in America today.
Although Brody interviewed only American women the themes in the play are universally found in most industrialized countries today: the surprisingly large number of pregnant women not knowing their birth options and the risks of medical interventions; coercion of pregnant women physically and verbally; the power – and pleasure – available to women who give birth; and that secret knowing inside all pregnant moms that their bodies rock. Birth has been performed to sold-out audiences throughout the world as part of the BOLD movement, raising over $350,000 for projects that provide mother-friendly maternity care services and outreach.
In the play we go on a birth journey with Jillian, a stay-at-home mother of four children, who shows us that one unhappy birth experience does not have to be repeated; and Beth, a 35-year-old successful, high-powered computer systems manager from New Jersey who confidently planned a cesarean.
We are introduced to Vanessa, a buyer for a major department store who never had a doubt that she wanted an epidural. We hear from Janet, a lesbian in her 40s, who despite her feminist background wanted a medicalized birth, fearing the safety of herself and the baby; and Lisa, an African-American who felt intimidated and used by her midwives and the medical system after her birth.
We get to know Sandy, who thought birth was “just one day” but found out that having an emergency c-section on that day changed her world. We then follow Sandy on her journey to have her second baby differently, a much-hoped for VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean).
We hear Natalie’s intimate story of physical betrayal; and Amanda, an athletic, confident stay-at-home mother who believed her birthing mantra–”My Body Rocks”–gave her the attitude she needed to give birth naturally in the hospital.
Moving between first-person monologues, some dialogue, and the voices these women heard on the day they gave birth, this play is the first piece of theater to confront what City Lights Theater Company called, “The naked truth about childbirth.”
