Photograph by Carly Shank
Left to proper: Maggie Shackley (Fade) and Kelli Saldivar (Hannah) encounter Tran Pham (Harrison) as they navigate a world the place entry to abortion and well being care is not assured.
In a divided, dystopian America, science is outlawed, books are burned and freedoms are stripped away. If any of that sounds a bit of acquainted, that is the purpose. This unsettling actuality is dropped at life in Physician Vonyich and Her Kids, a robust and poetic play by Leanna Keyes. Set in a future that feels eerily near the encroaching current, the manufacturing bravely tackles themes of resistance, identification and the enduring combat for bodily autonomy.
The play facilities on Physician Rue Voynich (performed by Daybreak Lansden), a talented herbalist, and her apprentice, Fade (Maggie Shackley), as they navigate a world the place entry to abortion and well being care is not assured. On a journey by way of the American Midland, they meet Jess (Breanna Dawson) and her daughter, Hannah (Kelli Saldivar), a determined younger lady in search of an unlawful abortion, whereas inexplicably not totally understanding how the being pregnant even occurred. With legislation enforcement ever-present and lurking, Physician Voynich and Fade should depend on historic, harmful data to assist Hannah, risking their freedom to save lots of hers.
I had the chance to look at a little bit of a rehearsal two weeks earlier than the present opened. Even with out units, stage lights or costumes and whereas rehearsing in a classroom aglow with fluorescent lighting, I used to be fully taken in by these characters and their tales. After working a few scenes, the forged gathered for a dialogue, which was as enlightening as watching the total efficiency itself.
The play is one thing the actors and director having had on their radar for years, speaking with one another about it and even performing a scene from it for a contest. The keenness and deep dedication to the present’s message was palpable with this small however mighty group. Whereas the topic of abortion options prominently, director Al Oltmann harassed, “This is not about moralizing abortion. It is about science, and the way we want it to maintain one another protected.
“What’s lovely about (the play) is not one of the characters are villainized. Harrison (the character that may very well be interpreted as a villain, performed by Tran Pham) nonetheless has an ethical compass. All of them do,” Oltmann stated. Every character, regardless of their disparate viewpoints and strongly held convictions, all consider they’re doing the suitable factor.
Breanna Dawson, who performs Hannah’s mom, Jess, introduced up one other main thread that runs all through the play: mom and daughter relationships.
“I feel it is actually necessary and must be touched on – particularly on the subject of breaking the cycle of trauma and never passing it on,” Dawson stated.
As Physician Voynich and her apprentice journey collectively, they type a surrogate mother-daughter relationship, providing one another help, steerage and care in a world that has deserted them. The dynamic between these two characters is each tender and fraught with rigidity, as they navigate their very own trauma and the load of their selections. The very actual mom/daughter relationship between Hannah and Jess underscores the significance of breaking these cycles of hurt, of selecting to heal slightly than perpetuate the ache of the previous, even when these efforts in the end fail.
The play is offered by the UIS Performing Arts Middle in its second collaboration with Coalescence Theatre Mission, a Bloomington-based itinerate theater challenge that focuses on unheard tales and gives a spot the place the silent and underrepresented have a voice. The manufacturing is a robust reflection of up to date issues, significantly within the wake of the Supreme Court docket’s resolution to overturn Roe v. Wade. With ticket gross sales reportedly surging for the reason that November election, it is clear the play is already resonating with audiences.
Physician
Vonyich and Her Kids has a content material advisory for sexual
content material and sexual conditions.
Performances are Nov. 21-23
at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 24, at 2 p.m. within the decrease stage UIS Studio
Theatre. Restricted seating is accessible. Tickets are $20, or $15 for UIS school,
college students or workers with ID.
