I started writing Mother Of on June 22nd, 2022, the day Roe fell. It was also the same day I attended my first shabbat service with my fiancée and heard a Rabbi say that abortion was sacred. I was raised deeply, devoutly Catholic, the type of Catholic where my mother flicked holy water on the walls of our home when the tornado sirens wailed and where a rosary was always within hand’s reach. I am also a non-binary lesbian who has spent 12 years working in reproductive justice organizing and healthcare, including abortion care. I was raised to feel these parts of myself were diametrically opposed, two opposite ends of a magnet repelling one another. Simply put, to hear a religious leader declare what I had long been told was a sin was in fact, holy was a revelation; it healed a part of my heart I wasn’t aware was still wounded. That’s how this play came about. A conception of what a Church of Choice might look like: that this too–the choice to mother or not to mother, queerness, desire, anger, joy, and community– might be holy. Because I think we all deserve an altar we might pray to. 

I hope you taste some drop of holiness tonight, whatever that might mean to you. 

“Most of the time humanity isn’t even given the illusion of freedom to choose our own wifi provider or trust that our children will return home alive when we send them off to school, much less act upon our free will.” — Marian, MOTHER OF

More and more, in this world we’ve built, or rather, that has been built for us (or against us), free will, choice, self-determination, whatever you want to call it, feels like a privilege reserved for only the world’s most resourced. Yet, here we are, supposed agency and all, constantly navigating “choice.” Having free will is one of the most fundamental parts of being human. When the powers that be try, and sometimes succeed, to strip us of our choices, they strip us of our very humanity. Yet we, the beings placed in this grand simulation, fight to carve out choice with whatever tools we have, be it dollar bills or fingernails.

Even in knowing that choice is a great privilege, worth a great fight, we often find ourselves immobilized by fear when faced with choices, big or small, that feel like they could shape the rest of our lives. I have struggled with this, as all humans do, countless times.

My therapist often reminds me that there is no wrong choice—only different paths. Reluctantly, I choose to believe them. I leave my heart open to the possibility that choice isn't some test doled out by the universe or God that you will either pass or fail, but two different paths gently winding, outlining the shape of our lives. This is perhaps why I love this play so much. It asks us to bear witness to all the beauty and all the foibles of choosing, to continue to fight for choice in all ways, always, because choice was never meant to be a privilege, but our natural born right.

Choice be with you.

MARY | Sahar El Dika

MIRYAM | Marielle Issa

MARIAN | Dinah Berkeley

GAVRI’EL | Ari Meixner

Click here for full cast bios.

PLAYWRIGHT | Katherine Gwynn

DIRECTOR | Tina El Gamal

STAGE MANAGER | Tessa Huber*

DESIGNER | Lolo Ramos

PRODUCER | Heidi Hoblit Graham

PRODUCER | Lowell Thomas

PRODUCER | Clare Brennan*

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*denotes Red Theater cohort member

This workshop performance of MOTHER OF would not have been possible without the generosity of the following collaborators and supporters: Catherine Miller, Paul Michael Thomson, Lowell Thomas, Jess Wall, Raytona Creative, Pastor Kristin and the Edgewater Presbyterian Church, Marisa Macella, and the rest of Red Theater’s Board of Directors.

Red Theater is funded in part by grants from The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, and the Clinton Family Fund.