Last week, my husband and I saw The Birth of The Pill at the TimeLine theater, one of our favorite Chicago theaters in a city with a fabulous theater scene. In addition to the play, The TimeLine is famous for its dramaturgy. In their brand-new theater building, they have the space to present a full picture of the historic events that occurred during the time their plays take place.
The
play, written by Jessica Huang adapted from the book by Jonathan Eig, was
interesting and entertaining. The primary characters were Margaret Sanger,
Katherine McCormick, and the scientists who did the research -John Rock, Goody
Pincus, and Min Chueh Chang. Maria Victoria Martinez was terrific as the
narrator and other roles.
The
actors were wonderful. Nevertheless, the cast wasn’t given a script that showed
their interiority or any emotional relationships among the characters. We
learned about Margaret Sanger’s thoughts but not her feelings. I didn’t know
prior to seeing The Birth of The Pill that she became the strong activist
promoting women’s ability to choose when and if they wanted to have children
partly because of her advocacy of eugenics. The dramaturgy explained that she
had 10 siblings and her mother had seven miscarriages besides that and then
died at age 50. This family history was a motivator in her advocacy. In the
play, however, the character Margaret Sanger never expounded on her emotions
about this. She was largely discredited despite all her contributions because
of those views. It would have added to our understanding had we seen her inner
struggles.
What
was most upsetting to me was to learn that the trials of The Pill were done on
Puerto Rican women without their knowledge that the drugs were in the
experimental stage. Many Puerto Rican women were sterilized without their
consent during this time also.
Had
I known this history when I took the pill would it have influenced my decision
to take it? Probably not. By then, the pill was an established fact giving
women the power to control their lives. The Pill had been greatly improved by
then, most side effects eliminated or greatly reduced. Its origins were
history, never known to most of us until now.
