‘Silent no longer’
Playwright shares stories of P.E.I. mothers who felt forced into putting their children up for adoption
An Island playwright hopes her new project sheds light on the history of adoption in P.E.I.
Linda Wigmore’s play, “The Shame of the Meek”, tells the reallife experiences of six mothers who relinquished their babies for adoption in P.E.I. over the span of a few decades.
Those mothers believe they were tricked or coerced by the Catholic Church into doing so.
Wigmore wanted to write the play after Norah Pendergast, who collaborated with her on the project, was interviewing mothers for an article she was writing about the Island’s adoption heritage.
Having found half a dozen mothers willing to share their experiences with her, Wigmore got to work writing 18 monologues based on their stories, with each character reciting three monologues.
“It was a chance to let the mothers say what they wanted to say, because it’s their first time getting to say it,” Wigmore said. “Nobody can try to make them feel bad for what they’re saying. They have a right to say it.”
In April, Wigmore and a handful of actors did a private reading of the play in Charlottetown for the mothers whose stories she told.
Theresa Aylward, known as P.E.I.’s search angel, was one of the mothers who heard her story shared on stage.
In 1982, when she was just a teenager, Aylward became pregnant and was sent to Pownal House, which was run by Catholic Family Services.
Aylward said she was told there was no support or assistance for her, and that she wouldn’t be able to keep her baby.
What she wasn’t told, however, was that a home for unwed mothers was soon opening up across the street.
Not feeling like she had any options, Aylward signed the papers. She said the sight of the yellow Pownal Street building still affects her to this day, which is reflected in the play.
“I can’t even drive by there now. I go out of my way to avoid it,” Aylward’s character says in the play.
Pendergast created a painting to help promote the play, which depicts the yellow house surrounded by nuns in habits, with The Mount and St. Dunstan’s Basilica Parish in the background.
Aylward said for several days following the spring reading, the image of the yellow house stuck with her, and when she was out driving one day, it hit her.
“The house is silent no longer,” she thought. “These walls are going to talk.”
Aylward said it was “amazing” to watch her story being read onstage.
“To physically hear someone read it, it was all I could do to keep my composure,” she said.
“It was extremely positive in the sense that everybody felt validated and they knew there was compassion and caring in the room, so everybody seemed really comfortable.”
A recent public push for open adoption records makes “The Shame of the Meek” an important and relevant play, said Aylward.
“I think if it’s out there, people will gain knowledge from it,” she said. “And to allow the moms and the adoptees to have an acceptance of themselves, not to carry (the shame), any further, any longer.”
This first phase of the project was made possible with the help of a $3,520 arts grant Wigmore received last summer. With the help of about $800 raised through a GoFundMe account, Wigmore will stage a few more readings for the mothers next month as she works on finalizing the play.
She is currently in the process of applying for grants to be able to complete the project, but said she has no intention on stopping until her goal of staging the play in front of a public audience is reached.
“I’m so committed to the whole thing.”
Wigmore hopes to have the play ready for the public next spring.
More information on the project can be found at Gofundme. com/the-shame-of-the-meek.