The Birth Play Project

OUR MISSION

The Birth Play Project (or the BPP) is a Minneapolis-based company of artists dedicated to placing reproductive stories in public memory. Our practices, which here refer to both process (artist experience) and presentation (audience experience), work towards:

1. Connections to somatic memory;

2. Body literacy and sovereignty; 

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

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

5. Reproductive justice. 

The Birth Play Project is under the fiscal sponsorship of Springboard for the Arts, meaning all contributions are tax-deductible. We entered the world of fundraising for the first time this past November by surpassing our goal on Give to the Max Day, and we will be developing our individual giving program throughout the upcoming year. Read on to learn about what we'll be up to in 2025 and how your support will make an impact. 

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 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." 

Our first productions were 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 material 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. Last year, each of our company members received a book called Reproductive Justice: An Introduction by Loretta Ross and Rickie Solinger. Our associate artists 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 associate artists (for free) and the wider community (on a sliding scale). In this area, our goal is to pay our teaching artists 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 ($500 stipend each, distributed in installments throughout the year). 

The 2023 cast of Mary's Wondrous Body. 

4. Fundraising

A cohort of our associate artists will serve as our development committee in 2025, and they will meet monthly to develop our individual giving program, write grant applications, and plan our inaugural fundraising events. Our goal is to pay the artists who will be serving as project managers, event planners, and grant writers throughout the year. 

We are taking 2025 off from producing theatre in order to focus on diversifying our funding sources, ensuring a sustainable future for our company 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.