The Birth Play Project is presenting seven in-person performances of a new show titled “I With Things New Born,” at Off-Leash Art Box starting Oct. 30.
Written and directed by Madeline Wall, who also performs in the play with University of Minnesota senior Renèe Schwarz, the production will be the final show in Off-Leash Art Box in Minneapolis, according to Wall. The small, 2-year-old theater will close due to the COVID-19 shutdown. The play was scheduled to premiere at Off-Leash in May.
In a news release, Wall says: “I wrote this play for the people who have given birth this year in rooms with restricted visitors and strangers in masks. And for those strangers, our healthcare professionals, who have held space for the sanctity of birth, even in harrowing circumstances.”
“I With Things New Born” follows Juliet, from Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure,” who is exiled after she was imprisoned for getting pregnant out of wedlock. A young nun is her midwife and the two must deal with the birth alone, as the city outside is in chaos, according to a news release.
The audience will be capped at 10 for the 45-minute performance. COVID safety protocols will be in place.
The Birth Play Project is a new Twin Cities theater initiative “committed to reproductive justice and the stories of womb-holding people,” according to the news release.
If you go
- What: “I With Things New Born”
- When: Thursdays-Sundays, Oct. 30-Nov. 8
- Where: Off-Leash Art Box, 4200 E. 54th St., Minneapolis
- Tickets: Pay-What-You-Can (suggested donation: $10-$30); eventbrite.com/e/i-with-things-new-born-live-performances-tickets-124011593013
- Plus: Streaming on a pay-what-you-can basis beginning on Nov. 8
