Roe by Lisa Loomer

LISA LOOMER APRIL 10, 12, 13 & 18 AT 7:30 PM APRIL 20 AT 2:00 PM A N E S S T U D I O T H E AT R E

ROE is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com)

www.suu.edu/arts

LISA LOOMER World Premiere Commissioned and Produced by The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Bill Rauch, Artistic Director; Paul Nicholson, Executive Director) Excerpts from “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” by Stephen Sondheim and Jule Styne used with permission of the Owners; © 1959 (Renewed) Stratford Music Corporation (ASCAP) and Williamson Music, Inc. (ASCAP); All rights administered by Chappell & Co., Inc.; All rights reserved ROE is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com)

ARTISTIC STAFF Director...................................................... Scott C Knowles Assistant Director........................................ Sophia Weaver Intimacy Choreographer...................... Dr. Lisa Quoresimo Scenic Designer........................................... Brian Swanson Costume Designer.......................................... Malin Sender Lighting Designer.................................................. Ash Bisek Sound Designer................................................ Kolby Clarke Hair & Makeup Designer.................................. Bria Hansen Dramaturg................................................. Joseph Sandoval Stage Manager........................................... Arianna Monson

CAST Norma M...................................... Nash Kenning-Ballestros Actor 1...............................................Kolton Keetch Nielsen Actress 7.............................................Maya Reese Williams Connie.............................................................. Con Guerrero Sarah W................................................................. Emma Cox Actor 2............................................................... Austin Fronk Actress 4..................................................... Kendra Pugmire Actress 6....................................................... Rue Devenport Child.................................................................. Kira Wootton Actor 3............................................................ Ethan Akester Actress 5................................................... Brooklyn Remick

PRODUCTION STAFF Assistant Stage Manager.............................Tiana Edwards Electrics Supervisor............................................. Kyle Cook Technical Director.......................................... Daniel Traner Light Board Operator.............................Harriet Jill Parnell Sound Board Operator.................................... Beau Barrett Costume Shop Manager.............................. Caitlin Leyden Wardrobe Crew............................................. Kyleen Doman Elley White Dean Salvesen Sara Barrett Hair and Makeup Head............................... Annie Hancock Hair and Makeup Crew................................. Olivia Willden Jaydea V Price Emma Chapman Ashley Halls Luke Elison

PRODUCTION STAFF (CONT.) Changeover Crew Head........................... Keira Jolie Miller Changeover Crew............................................ Jacob Merrill Veronique Jun Li Robledo Tabatha Heart Ashley Thormahlen Oliver Keawe Soul Estrada-Brown Tyler Dean Bennett Graphic Designer.......................................... Sophie Stilson

SPECIAL THANKS Ben Hohman

Danielle Davis

Ann Oberhelman

The Utah Shakespeare Festival

Marielle Boneau

Eliza Rose Greiner

Richard Girtain

Dean Rice

SPONSORED IN PART BY

DRAMATURGICAL NOTE While there’s much information that you will gain through your attendance of Roe, there is little mention of the Supreme Court case that spurred Loomer’s revision of the play in 2022, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This case was brought to the Supreme Court after Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s only licensed abortion clinic, and one of its doctors filed a lawsuit to challenge the recent Gestational Age Act, which prohibited abortion past 15 weeks.

The court ruled for the clinic and placed an injunction on Mississippi, prohibiting the enforcement of the Gestational Age Act due to the precedents of viability set by Roe v. Wade and the undue burden standard added by Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, another Supreme Court Case. After its appeals questioning the laws’ constitutionality and hearing before the Supreme Court, however, both Roe v.

Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey were overruled on the basis that the Constitution did not confer a right to abortion; instead, the authority of regulation belongs to state representatives. The majority opinion of the Court was based on the following: 1) a “short-circuited... democratic process” that excluded Americans who dissented from the Court’s decisions; 2) abortion’s absence from the nation’s history and tradition; 3) that pre- and post-viability were insufficient distinctions and undue burden could not define permissible and unconstitutional restrictions; 4) that “attempts to justify abortion through appeals to a broader right to autonomy and to define one’s ‘concept of existence’ … could license fundamental rights to illicit drug use, prostitution, and the like;” and 5) that getting an abortion is generally an “unplanned activity,” and “reproductive planning could take virtually immediate account of any sudden restoration of state authority to ban abortions.”

CONTINUED

DRAMATURGICAL NOTE The dissenting opinion highlighted that “[as a] Nation, we do not believe that a government controlling all private choices is compatible with a free people” and echoed Roe’s placement of the right to abortion within the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, but the 6-3 decision removed federal claims to this right. Several laws suddenly fell into effect in some states, commonly called trigger laws, or trigger bans in the case of abortion regulation. Such laws had been written after the announcement, in May 2021, of Dobbs’ upcoming hearing in the Supreme Court, and more followed the release of the leaked opinion draft in May 2022, a month before Dobbs’ official decision. Some states prohibit abortion and limit access in various ways, with the most extreme being total bans regardless of the number of weeks since the last menstrual period (LMP), the unit used to determine abortion regulation, and regardless of instances of rape, incest, lethal fetal anomalies, or risk of health. Other states, in efforts to maintain abortion rights, provided protections and increased accessibility to abortions, with the most extreme being recognition of abortion rights under state constitutions and legislative action.

The implications extend past abortion itself, however.

Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Idaho have similar bans on traveling to assist a minor in getting an out-of-state abortion. Alabama in vitro fertilization clinics are pausing services to clients after their Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under law. Texan mother Kate Cox was forced to leave her home state in search of an abortion despite a diagnosis of Trisomy 18 in her unborn daughter, dangerous future health and fertility risks, and wanting her daughter Chloe to join her family. Abortion is currrently legal in Utah before 18 weeks LMP, with exceptions for rape, incest, some fetal anomalies, and risk of life of the mother.

-Joseph Sandoval

PRE-SHOW TALK APRIL 20 · 1:00 PM Listen More, Talk Less: How to Civilly Discuss Abortion (and other tough topics)

Dr. Helen Boswell-Taylor Originally from upstate New York, Dr. Helen Boswell-Taylor received her Ph.D in Biological Sciences from the University at Buffalo in the areas of evolution and animal behaviour. She joined the faculty at Southern Utah University in 1999, where she teaches Evolution, Biomedical Ethics, and General Biology.

She has authored the nonfiction work My Fish Ate Your Fish, the Young Adult Mythology trilogy, and several scientifica articles. Helen loves living in southern Utah and enjoys spending time with her husband, children, and mom, and caring for her small zoo of dogs, snakes, lizards, and tarantulas.

This pre-show talk will take place in the Frehner Rehearsal Hall on April 20 at 1:00 p.m.

DISCLAIMER For all patrons’ enjoyment, please turn off or silence all cell phones and other electronic devices. There is no texting permitted during the performance.

Children under six years of age may be too young for live performances at SUU. Parents with young children are asked to take seats near the exits. In the event your child becomes disruptive, we request that you and the child exit the theatre during the live performance.

NOTE TO AUDIENCE: The videotaping or audio and/or visual recording of this production is strictly prohibited.

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