The Birth Play Project

OUR MISSION

The Birth Play Project (or the BPP) exists to place birth in public memory by developing representational practices for staging reproductive stories. These practices refer to process (artist experience) and presentation (audience experience), both of which work towards:

1. Connections to somatic memory;

2. Means of marking reproductive grief, joy, and rage;

3. The development of individual and collective philosophies of birthing;

4. Reproductive justice. 

As of this fall, The Birth Play Project is a sponsored project of Springboard for the Arts, and we are entering the world of fundraising for the first time! We surpassed our original goal on our very first Give to the Max Day last month, and we are now in stretch goal territory until the end of the calendar year. 

Measure for Measure, 2024. Photo by Emily Garst. 

OUR PLAYS

In 2022, we were named Cherry and Spoon's Favorite New Theatre Company of the Year based one production alone: Mary's Wondrous Body by Madeline Wall. Mary's was called "imaginative, clever, and gritty" by MPR's Jacob Aloi in 2023, and just this past fall, our 2024 adaptation of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure was a Stages of MN "must see...I suspect I will never see a better production of Measure for Measure...it takes a very special theatre company like The Birth Play Project to make it come alive like this." 

We also produced the premieres of Joel F. Wilshire's Aquelarres, after the works of Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (2021), and Madeline Wall's I With Things New Born (2020). 

Mary's Wondrous Body, 2022. Photo by Emily Garst. 

Measure for Measure, 2024. Photo by Emily Garst.

Aquelarres, 2021. Photo by Shane Morgan.

OUR WORK

As of 2024, The BPP is a company of ten artists. We all participate in three main activities: 1.) Thought partnership, 2.) Company training, and 3.) Preparing new plays for production. In 2025, we are adding fundraising as a company activity. 

Here's what we have planned for the upcoming year in each of these four categories, and how your gift supports us: 

1. Thought Partnership

In addition to our monthly company meetings, during which we will refine our Mission, Vision, and Values and workshop our theory of change, we are beginning a new program in 2025 called The BPP Deep Reading Sessions, during which we will literally get together and read: books, plays, essays, etc., all connected to birth stories, reproductive justice, and how we can learn from artistic and advocacy collectives before us. We would like to start with purchasing one book for each company member to have a copy of: this will cost about $200. Last year, the book we each received was Reproductive Justice: An Introduction by Loretta Ross and Rickie Solinger. Our company members are not paid to attend meetings, but we feed them, which we have also budgeted for! 

Company members on an artist retreat in summer of 2023. 

2. Company Training

We have a series of workshops planned, which we will offer to our company members (for free) and the wider community (on a sliding scale). In this area, our goal is to pay our teaching artists (minimum: $300 stipend) for their time and expertise. Our first offering in 2025 will be a voice and dialect workshop facilitated by Gillian Constable. 

3. Preparing New Plays for Production

We have a new script in the works! It will be gestating all throughout 2025 and make its debut in 2026. Our goal is to pay the two writers (minimum $500 stipend each, distributed in installments throughout the year). 

The 2023 cast of Mary's Wondrous Body. 

4. Fundraising

A cohort of our company members will serve as our fundraising committee in 2025, and they will meet monthly to develop our individual giving program, write grant applications, and plan our two inaugural fundraising events. Our goal is to pay our company members who will be serving as project managers, event planners, and grant writers throughout the year (minimum: $300 stipends). 

We are taking 2025 off from producing theatre in order to focus on diversifying our funding sources, ensuring a sustainable future for our organization in 2026 and beyond. Thank you for considering a contribution to our work!

I With Things New Born, 2020. Photo by Noelle Kirscht. 

The Birth Play Project is a sponsored project of Springboard for the Arts, a nonprofit arts service organization. Contributions on behalf of The Birth Play Project may be made payable to Springboard for the Arts and are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.