July 2007

BOLD (Birth On Labor Day)
Returns to Seattle

Last year over Labor Day weekend, a small group of Seattle-area actors joined with women around the world (as far away as Malta and New Delhi) in presenting one of more than 40 performances of the play Birth. Playwright Karen Brody wrote Birth after interviewing 118 women across America about their birth stories. Brody’s play tells the stories of eight of those women, who represent the spectrum of birthing women in the United States today.

Brody launched BOLD (Birth On Labor Day) in early 2006, after receiving critical acclaim for a number of commercial performances of Birth in U.S. cities. With a national cesarean section rate of over 30 percent and with half of women experiencing labor induction in some form, Brody’s mission was to bring attention to the nation’s (and the world’s) maternity care crises. She hopes to get women in local communities talking about birth, learning the truth about maternity care, making choices and making change, according to Seattle BOLD producer Lynn Hughes.

Inspired by the success and enthusiasm generated by their single 2006 Seattle performance, Hughes and this year’s director, Walayn Sharples, jumped at the opportunity to BE BOLD again this year. However, this Labor Day weekend and throughout the month of September, the group is taking performances of Birth into the community. They hope to raise awareness around maternity care issues locally, while raising funds for organizations in the Puget Sound area and beyond that work to make maternity care mother-friendly.

The 2007 Seattle cast will hold their opening night “Gala” performance at the Edmonds Performing Arts Center Aug. 31. This special night will include a guest performance by renowned author, lecturer and educator Penny Simkin. Involved in childbirth education since 1968, Simkin has helped prepare more than 9,000 women, couples and siblings for childbirth. She will take on the role of Amanda, a woman whose birth mantra was, “My body rocks!”

The cast will do a weekend run at the Bathhouse on Green Lake, as well as performances in the Rainier Valley, West Seattle, Everett and Vashon Island ­– all in September. Visit www.boldinseattle.com or call 1-800-385-9704 for tickets and details.

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Seattle's Child, a publication of the Washington Post Company
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