DIRECTOR'S NOTE
Roe written by Lisa Loomer, takes the audience beyond the newspapers and history books to meet the brave, flawed people who changed American life. This is a play about the people who carried the case of Roe V. Wade. It does not advocate for either side, pro-life or pro-choice, but balances many voices of the abortion debate.
As a mother, artist, advocate, and person of faith who is vested in human rights, I admire the way Lisa Loomer writes this story in a creative, honest, and thought-provoking way. In the play, you will hear the actual justices, recorded 50 years ago, as they interact with the actors. In rehearsal, when we first played the recording of the justices voices with the gavel sounds in the courtroom it felt majestic, eerie, and pertinent. The play slides from the 1970’s into the 1980’s and 1990’s to see the significant effect that Roe V. Wade's case had on people. I encourage audiences to lean in as they hear voices of the past. This play is important today because women's access to healthcare is still a debate. I hope that this play encourages audiences to be impartial and compassionate towards individuals in the story.
“And since history is a shared experience and is a reflection of multiple points of view that are affected by race, religion, gender, sexuality, and class…” I have reflected on what Sarah Weddington says in Act 1, scene 1, History is a shared experience, and this process has been a shared experience too. It has taken an ensemble to carry this story. I am grateful for the twenty actors playing multiple characters, the many designers who have crafted digital and textile art, and the army of technicians who engineer theatrical possibilities.
Thank you,
Britannia Howe
DRAMATURG'S NOTE
Although Roe v. Wade began in 1970, twenty-nine years before I was born, its ruling sent ripples for generations to come, to where even women my age are acutely aware of its monumental impact. For young girls, there is a point in your adolescence where you are forced to come face to face with political issues regarding your body, like reproductive health, abortion, bodily integrity, sexuality, and shame. It is not always something you learn in schools, but these debates are in the world all around you. As a woman, your body is always at the center of a nationwide battle.
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It is a nationwide battle that the Roe v. Wade ruling did not completely resolve. Even fifty years after abortion was legalized, we still watch women around the country be denied their rights to reproductive health. Meanwhile, more and more states have adopted regulations that make abortion virtually impossible, mass shootings and bombings happen at Planned Parenthood clinics, and presidents actively try to reverse the Roe v Wade ruling. With such ongoing, passionate, and extremely divided standpoints, the facts of the issue become blurred in the rampant debate. The history of abortion is a difficult one to present without contributing to the biases we may hold.
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So, then, how do we talk about history fairly, free of bias? Is it possible to present a historical event objectively? Can we learn about history objectively? Whether you believe it is fully possible or not, Roe aims to present history in the most objective way possible. It does not exist to convince you which side of the abortion argument is correct or incorrect. It does not exist to confirm your existing beliefs and biases on the morality of abortion. Instead, it reminds us that each and every person involved in this momentous decision are human beings, pro-life or pro-choice. Each side is presented fairly and genuinely, and, for once, we are encouraged to calmly see and honor the conviction behind each side of the argument. Even the characters you fundamentally disagree with are no less human than you. By presenting different versions of the same history, the play seeks to find a balance between morality and immorality, the political and the personal. It is not just the story of Roe v. Wade in the courtroom; it follows the lives, the discourse, the effects, the limitations, the opinions, the unanswerable questions, and the ongoing battles that will continue for years to come.
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-Payton Scudieri, Dramaturg