Natalie Moore has a new play on abortion rights, debuting in Chicago
Natalie Moore is appearing at the American Writers Festival on May 15 in conversation with Lookingglass Theatre ensemble member and director J. Nicole Brooks. Moore is known around Chicago as a longtime WBEZ reporter and author of “The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation,” but earlier this year she published a play, “The Billboard,” a fictional account of a real-life Texas incident involving dueling Dallas billboards — one opposed to abortion, and one in support. She relocated the story to Englewood; the play will premiere in a production by Berwyn’s 16th Street Theater next month.
Q: Why do this as a play and not a short story or novel? A:
I don’t think I have the skill set for a novel. I thought it was too layered and long for a short story. There are a lot of similarities between playwriting and writing audio scripts. You’re writing for the ear, so it was a natural transition. Even the NPR training books ask you to think of your audio feature as a three-act play. In longer narrative projects I do, (you ask) what are the stakes? Which is language you hear in playwriting. There is also an urgency to plays. You’re tight on time. Which is similar to an audio feature. Even when we’re doing stories, the best thing someone said might not be the best way they said it. You’re looking for the essence of how someone talks.
Q: It’s somewhat coincidental that it arrives at this moment? A:
Yes. But there were trends, with states restricting (abortions), Illinois becoming more of a haven. Still, (when she began writing in 2018) I wasn’t thinking Roe v. Wade was in jeopardy.
Q: There is also a Chicago incident that ties back to this? A:
In 2011, an anti-abortion billboard went up in Black neighborhoods, targeting Black women, with a picture of Obama on it even though his mother is white. It said, “Every 21 minutes a future leader is aborted.” They went around the country doing these billboards, including Dallas — where a Black woman’s group put up their own billboard, similar to the one that’s in the play, that likens abortion to self-care.
Q: What did you see in this story that goes beyond the natural drama of two groups of people talking at each other? A:
Yeah, that’s a good question because you don’t want to sound pedantic, even though I think various points of view on abortion are reflected. In some way, there’s more of a debate within communities that are pro-choice. But because it’s Chicago, I set it during a city council race. So there’s a sub-story there of who does a community belong to, who gets to speak for a community, especially when that place is on the South Side and Black and disinvested.
Q: Do you think of this as activism? A:
No, and even if I did, there’s no way I could say that in print! I want to keep my job!
“The Billboard” runs June 23 to July 17 by 16th Street Theater at Abbott Hall of Northwestern University, 710 N. Lake Shore Drive; 16thstreettheater.org