“The Turnaway Play,” a scientific study turned stage performance about reproductive rights, seeks to answer the question, “What happens when a person is denied an abortion?”
Five actors in this play portray the real-life experiences of people included in a study on the impact abortion has on women, which Dr. Diana Greene Foster, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, conducted from 2008 to 2018 with 1,000 women.
This play, presented by the Reproductive Justice Task Force of Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR) will be performed at the Shea Theater Arts Center on Sunday, Oct. 5, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., featuring a reading of the play, then a question and answer session with playwright Lesley Lisa Greene and representatives from The Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project (The MAP). All proceeds will go to benefit The MAP, which provides medication and abortion care through telemedicine to those in need across the United States.
According to the Turnaway Play website, the study concluded that “receiving an abortion does not harm the health and wellbeing of women, but in fact, being denied an abortion results in worse financial, health and family outcomes.” The show is described as using “drama, humor and audience participation,” to make the play both “engaging,” and “thought-provoking.”
Lesley Lisa Greene, Foster’s sister, adapted the study into a stage play when Foster asked her if a play could accompany the book she was writing about the study, and the planned book tour.
“She didn’t want to do all the talking, because the people in the study had such compelling stories, and it’s so much easier to feel empathy when you hear out of the mouth of someone who it’s really affected,” Greene explained
After the pandemic created some disruption for the book tour, Greene finished a full-length play that opened in 2023 in Ithaca, New York, and has since been performed across the United States as stage productions and play readings.
These stories are adapted from the real-life experiences shared with Foster during the study, and Greene created the play through reading the testimonials of the study, speaking with staff who facilitated the study, other playwrights, and a variety of other related people to develop the story.
“I wanted the data to come through, and I wanted it to have a lot of information in it, but I wanted it to be a play with a story you would wonder, ‘what’s going to happen next?” Greene said.
The play features the character of Dr. Foster, played by Marina Goldman, and is inspired by Greene’s sister. The nine women whose stories center the play are Luisa, Martina, Sofia (played by Maya Quiñones), Serena, Angela, Kiara (played by Nbs Malay) Rhonda, Brenda and Amy (played by Linda Tardiff), with Ashley Kramer reading stage directions. The show is directed by Montana Lampert Hoover, who was one of the first actors to perform the play in Ithaca.
Goldman, who is a retired OBGYN and serves in Montague town government, said she was drawn to the show for the evidence-based content and for the decline of reproductive rights in the United States, citing how she asked herself what century she was living in after the 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade.
“Reproductive justice is not just about being able to have an abortion,” Goldman said. “It’s also being able to control when we have children, how and when we bring them into the world,” she said.
Reproductive Justice Task Force Committee member Louise Antony said she hopes people who come see the show are inspired into action over reproductive rights.
“We’re hoping to bring some people into the political action, who might be motivated to come see the play, and maybe haven’t gotten terribly involved in this,” Antony said. “We hope we motivate a lot of people to donate to The MAP, to give material aid to people who do not have full access to the reproductive care that they need.”
To purchase tickets to “The Turnaway Play,” visit https://fccpr.us/donate-to-map/.