Diversity in the Workplace
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June 22, 2016
A Riveting Take on Abortion Divide
C ontinued froM P age 9
and their medical judgments rath-
er than the concerns and rights of
women.
The play devotes equal time to
McCorvey’s interesting and circu-
itous story. A lesbian who sought
an abortion when she was poor and
lacking either a partner or family
support, McCorvey was a survi-
vor of trauma in her childhood
and early adulthood. Though not
well-educated, McCorvey displays
a certain canny scrappiness that, at
times, seems quite admirable; at
other times, she seems a good ex-
ample of the long-term effects of
trauma and marginalization.
Both women are realized on
stage with compassion and depth.
Sara Bruner captures the ways
in which McCorvey masks her
suffering with bravado and can
sometimes be blind toward her
own and others’ manipulations.
The world has taught her one must
grab for things, making her an
easy target for people on all sides
of the controversy surrounding
abortion. Having met Weddington
and heard her speak, I think Sarah
Jane Agnew likewise has perfectly
captured a mixture of strong will
and reserve and a certain primness
that characterizes Weddington and
that makes sense given her social
location. Where Weddington is
poised and controlled, McCorvey
is opportunistic and, though she
can be rough around the edges,
sometimes catches things that oth-
ers miss. It is a mark of the skill
of the writing and directing and
acting on display that both wom-
en are portrayed with sympathy,
even while we get a sense of their
laws and the limits of their per-
spectives.
The same is true for the rest of
the cast, all of whom take on mul-
tiple roles. Particularly notable are
Catherine Castellanos as McCor-
vey’s steadfast longtime partner,
a Latina who loves and adapts to
McCorvey’s many efforts to re-
invent herself, and Jeffrey King,
who invests a pastor prominent
in Operation Rescue with believ-
able conviction and dignity. Un-
like so many conversations about
abortion, this play proceeds with
good awareness of the experienc-
es of women of color, investing
their particular concerns with sig-
niicance, mindful of how rarely
those concerns are relected in
conversations on either side of the
issues.
The result is a masterwork of
theater which keeps you riveted as
it skillfully shifts, shifts, and shifts
perspectives again and again
throughout its two-and-a-half hour
running time. For those of us who
lived through these events, the
play puts the pieces of memory to-
gether with illuminating angles on
these stories, deepening your un-
derstanding of things you thought
you already understood. And for
younger audience members, this
play offers context for understand-
ing the historical and present-day
stakes, awakening appropriate ur-
gency and compassion.
Darleen Ortega is a judge on
the Oregon Court of Appeals and
the irst woman of color to serve in
that capacity. She also serves on
the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
board. Her movie review column
Opinionated Judge appears reg-
ularly in The Portland Observer.
You can ind her movie blog at
opinionatedjudge.blogspot.com.