Review: MY BODY NO CHOICE Rallies Cries of Resistance at Arena Stage

When the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson hit in June, effectively overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Molly Smith knew she had to do something. For her final production as Arena Stage's Artistic Director, she brought together eight distinguished American Playwrights to create My Body No Choice. In just four months, the group developed a series of deeply personal nonfiction and fiction monologues about bodily autonomy, self-determination, and the freedom to choose. The goal: to inspire others to tell their own stories. "Far too often, these are the stories women are afraid and ashamed to share," she writes in a press release about the production. "[I]t's time for women to lose that fear."

Even with such a provocative subject matter, a series of eight monologues runs the risk of feeling static, but Smith and her impressive cohort of playwrights and actors have created a high-powered, compelling production with My Body No Choice. The actors arrange themselves in a semicircle, seated in a collection of mismatched armchairs and living room furniture. Their intimate and emotional stories track the injustices that emerge from interpersonal, religious, cultural, and state-sanctioned interference in their bodies. As each character grapples with the modern and historical ramifications of existing in a female body, they address the others around them. As they laugh, gasp, cheer, and cry together, it becomes clear that each monologue is interconnected with the others. On stage, these women of wide-ranging ages, locations, and backgrounds are united by the common threads of their shared lived experiences.

Notably, though Smith and her creative team arranged My Body No Choice in direct response to the Supreme Court's revocation of the right to abortion, the production's stories do not limit themselves exclusively to the theme of reproductive choice. In this sense, two pieces particularly elevate the entire collection: Dael Orlandersmith's "Gravitas" (performed by Felicia P. Fields), a monologue that asserts the right to take up space in a fat body, and Lee Cataluna's "Things My Mother Told Me" (performed by Toni Rae Salmi), a story about being denied the right to die on one's own terms. Both are vital to the effectiveness of the production's message.

Because the criminalization of abortion has become such a publicly contentious topic, other results of the right's concerted threats against bodily autonomy, freedom, and privacy are often overlooked, such as the dissolution of the patient-provider relationship, denial of vital medicines, violation of religious freedom, accessibility of personal data, and the potential loss of the rights to contraception and same-sex relationships, and more. My Body No Choice understands the breadth of issues that fall within the right to bodily autonomy. While its material focuses on abortion, the production effectively communicates to audiences that reproductive choice is just one aspect of the right to our own bodies.

My Body No Choice is a timely reminder that speaking one's truth is a powerful means of political resistance. Arena Stage invites audience members, particularly women, trans, and non-binary individuals to share stories about the choices they make and the choices they cannot make about their bodies. Akin to efforts like Shout Your Abortion, Smith and her creative team seek to gather and share a wide range of stories in order to normalize discussions about abortion, reproductive choice, and the often painful reality of existing in a female body. You can submit your story at arenastage.org/mybody.

My Body No Choice runs for just 18 performances (October 20 through November 6), an intentional nod to the upcoming midterm elections. Purchase tickets (priced at $18) here.

Main Photo: Shanara Gabrielle performing "Chance" by Mary Hall Surface in My Body No Choice. Photo by Margot Schulman.

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