WGI Mentor Winter Miller will have a one night only benefit performance of her play “Spare Rib,” directed by Jo Bonney, at the New York Society for Ethical Culture! Check out the interview with her below:
1. Tell us about your play Spare Rib
Let’s see. Well, it’s inspired by the playwrights Caryl Churchill and Maria Irene Fornes, and the artist Judy Chicago. It’s a wildly irreverent look at abortion from the perspective of the women who have them and the women who provide them. Despite the risks, Dr. Harriet Miles has performed abortions since before Roe v. Wade, and her daughter Dr. Florynce Miles is also a provider. The story pinballs between three distinct eras: early ‘70’s, 30 years after, and the present. Six fearless actors play multiple roles in this genre-bending comic drama.
We have an amazing cast lining up, I’m at will to say who two of them are, Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America, The Affair) and Fala Chen (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Irma Vep), and it’s really going to be fun! The evening is hosted by Samantha Bee, it’s directed by Jo Bonney (Cost of Living) with music by Rona Siddiqui (Strange Loop).
I’m compelled by the question of what kind of courage and resilience it takes to be an abortion provider in a climate that stigmatizes doctors who advocate for our reproductive freedom. I’ve always felt like if my life had gone a very (very) different route–like a mathy sciencey route–then I would have wanted to be an abortion provider.
Spare Rib explores what life was like just before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion and what it was like 50 years later, just before our rights were taken away. I’d like audiences to experience joy; it’s a funny, irreverent, and bawdy play about choosing motherhood… or not.
I believe how we talk about abortion is how we reduce the stigma, and that’s the game changer in the court of public opinion. If we don’t talk about abortion—if we don’t continue to talk about abortion, and how many people have had abortions, and how important it is that abortion is legal and accessible—then we continue to allow the violent results of our rights being trampled. To deny a wanted abortion is forced birth, and that’s the height of cruelty.
2. How did this benefit reading come to be?
I won a grant from the National Foundation for the Arts Women’s Media and Music Fund, how great is that? And they let me dream this whole thing into being. The event is in partnership with New York Theater Workshop, the Public Theater and NYFA and it’s a gala fundraiser for abortion access. I chose the date because it’s the 50th anniversary of the ruling of Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal in the U.S. (the date is actually 1/22, but we went with 1/23 because we’re theater people and we wanted to land in that Monday night sweet spot of an off-show night.
One thing that’s unique about this event is that EVERY dollar we raise is going towards the Abortion Care Network’s Keep Our Clinics, which will directly help independent clinics keep their doors open and the lights on. Most people don’t realize that 3 out of 5 abortions are at independent clinics (ie, not Planned Parenthood) and these clinics are often operating under duress—there are legal challenges to them, there are protestors, and some of them have been forced to shut down and re-open in other states. All of that takes money. But if we don’t help these indie clinics, then people won’t have places to go—not just for abortions, but for their health care needs—abortion is only a part of what these clinics offer patients.
The venue is big and exciting, the very beautiful and historical Society for Ethical Culture on 64th street and Central Park West. I think of this event as a celebration of what Roe has meant to so many people, a gathering of like-minded people who are geared up for the current fights, and a call to action, we are using theater to raise money for an activist cause.
3. Where/ How can folks buy tickets?
I love this question! We kept the ticket prices really low–$25 is a steal to see the names that we have presenting this play! We wanted it to be accessible to a range of people. We also have an initiative that is sponsoring free tickets for students, activists and health care workers, so if you fit into that category, send us an email at SpareRibPlay@gmail.com and as long as we have tickets to give away, we want to get them out. But, also, if you want to support the effort but you can’t make it, you can sponsor a ticket for someone else.
4. What are you working on next?
Also a good question, my second favorite after where and how can you get tickets! I’m working on a 3D Spatial Audio Opera Experience, an adaptation of my play No One Is Forgotten. The premise of the play is basically, two women, a journalist and an aid worker are held captive. No one knows where they’ve been taken or if they’re alive. Or maybe their story has been broadcast to the world?
The play asks the question, if you were held against your will and you didn’t know if you would ever be free, how would you survive? It’s a story about intimacy, surrender, and the will to live. It sounds very dramatic but it’s also very funny at times, because, you know, gallows humor and all. The other projects are too new to discuss, I’m superstitious that way, or I just like keeping it close to the vest. Maybe both.
