Warning: no science will be discussed in this particular post. This is all about sensibility - the sensibility of mothers.

How many of you have participated in a BOLD (Birth on Labor Day) production of the play Birth? How many have attended one? (I'm assuming, here, y'all know what I'm talking about.)

Ok, perhaps I should step back for a moment and not make any assumptions.

Karen Brody, the playwright behind Birth wasn't a playwright at all - before she decided to answer this calling. In 2003 she approached multitudes of magazine editors, hoping to fill their pages with articles and stories about birth. All she got was a multitude of closed doors. Soon it became apparent to her that if the Vagina Monologues could swell with popularity- if the public could support a play all about women's vaginas - then it could support a play all about birth. Karen Brody became a playwright. Birth was born.

photo credit: Birth On Labor Day website.
Available at: http://boldaction.org/our-work/birth-by-karen-brody/photo-gallery/

Telling the stories of 8 fictional women (the stories, themselves, are not fictional, but are a compilation of real-world stories Karen gleaned from interviews with real-world women) Birth discusses normal birth, epidural birth, cesarean delivery and, in the latest revision of the play script, VBAC.

Next week, on September 5th,Birth turns five years old. This means a lot to me, personally. Five years ago, I participated in a production of Birth, with my three-week-old son in arms. Here in Bozeman, Montana, our production garnered the attention of about 45 audience members. We had a small audience for a small town production. Nonetheless, we were BOLD in our production.

In conjunction with Birth's fifth birthday, a live performance of the play will take place at the new Museum of Motherhood in New York city -and it will be webcast to anyone and everyone all over the world. The BOLD team is encouraging you, the local birth professional, to share this event with others. Whether you invite a few friends into your home to collectively watch the performance, or organize a community event at your local library, you are welcome to hitch into the webcast by signing up here. (Yep, it's free!)

This is one of those opportunities in which social media messaging can translate into real-world action. Are you willing to answer that call?

And guess what? Birth isn't only for touchy-feely natural-birthy folks. Maybe you, yourself, are less inclined to support - or advocate for - normal birth. Maybe you feel that epidural analgesia is the best invention since sliced bread. I challenge you to watch the play, anyway. It's for everyone.

The play will also be re-broadcast every five hours on the 'Web, September 17 and 24. So if you can't make it September 5th, or pull together a community event by next week, you've got second and third chances to bring Birth to your community later this month.

No matter where you find yourself on the spectrum of birth, no matter what type of childbirth professional you are, I urge you to take part in this event - live in NYC, publicly at a central location in your community, or in the comfort of your own home. Open yourself up to what Birth has to say.

Published: August 31, 2011

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