Maternally Yours to Give BIRTH to Sarasota

Think giving birth is just one day so your birth choices don’t matter? Think again.

Playwright Karen Brody interviewed over one hundred low-risk, educated mothers about their birth experiences and turned what she discovered into a critically acclaimed play BIRTH. Learn more at boldaction.org.

Maternally Yours, a weekly program on Sarasota’s Community Radio station WSLR 96.5 LPFM, is bringing BIRTH: A Play by Karen Brody to Sarasota. Performances will be held in the New College of Florida Black Box Theater on October 5 and 6 at 7pm, and at Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center on October 7 at 4pm. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door, and are available at boldaction.org/attend. Special rates for seniors, military, children and group rates are available, and New College of Florida students are free with student ID.

Obstetrician-gynecologist and best-selling author Christiane Northrup, MD, says, “Now it’s time to free birth canals – and pregnant women everywhere. And that is the power and glory contained in this magnificent, funny and wonderfully wise play.” The three Sarasota performances are being directed by International Institute of Performing Arts Artistic Director Aurelia Nolin. The play stars BOLD members of our community:  Tara Allen, Catey Brannan, Sonia Castillo, Dhakeria Cunningham, Kassandra Devlin, Alvin Jenkins, Melanie Malefyt, April Noss, Tina Sommers, Autumn Venafro and Clare Ward-Jenkins.

Brody founded BOLD in 2006 with the intention to use her play to raise awareness and money that promotes childbirth choices that work for mothers “Childbirth today is a human rights issue,” states Brody, who spent a year interviewing over 100 low risk women before writing her play. “Choices in childbirth have been severely restricted for this large population of pregnant women for years despite strong evidence-based research supporting a wide variety of birth choices.”

Since 2006 nearly 100 BOLD locations have raised over $250,000 for organizations that support maternity care reform. The BOLD performance in Sarasota will benefit  WSLR, Sarasota's Community Radio Station. A Red Tent Expo and TalkBack! Session will accompany each performance. For tickets and more information about the play and the BOLD movement please visit www.BOLDaction.org. Questions may be directed to Maternally Yours at MaternallyYoursRadio@gmail.com.

Cast of the 2012 Maternally Yours Production of BIRTH: A Play by Karen Brody
(left to right, top row: Kassandra Devlin, Clare Ward-Jenkins, Autumn Venafro, Catey Brannan, Melanie Malefyt, Intern Lauren Brenzel; middle row: April Noss, Sonia Castillo, Dhakeria Cunningham, Alvin Jenkins, Director Aurelia Nolin; bottom row Tina Sommers, Tara Allen.)