The Birth Play Project: GTMD 2025

The Birth Play Project (or the BPP) is a Minneapolis-based company of artists dedicated to placing reproductive stories in public memory. Our practices, which here refer to both process (artist experience) and presentation (audience experience), work towards:

1. Connections to somatic memory;

2. Body literacy and sovereignty; 

3. Means of marking reproductive grief, joy, and rage;

4. The development of individual and collective philosophies of birthing;

5. Reproductive justice. 

The Birth Play Project is under the fiscal sponsorship of Springboard for the Arts, meaning all contributions are tax-deductible. Read on to hear what we've accomplished in 2025 (with the generous support of our 2024 Give to the Max donors!) and our vision for the upcoming year. 

Our Accomplishments in 2025

2025 has been an important year of transition – we have also fondly called it our “Year Without a Production." Throughout this year, we: 

• Held eight "deep reading sessions" to strengthen our associate artists' understanding of reproductive justice;
• Offered three professional development sessions for our associate artists and the larger community, led by Gillian Rosewell; 
• Submitted three grant/program applications;
• Established two new online homes: a Substack account that hosts our newsletter and a website by Liv Kemp of Anecdote Designs;
• Produced one public performance as part of Running Errands at the Bryant Lake Bowl; 
• Showed up for one Minnesota Senate hearing to support reproductive justice legislation;
• Held our first fundraising event at the Elision Playhouse; 
• Co-presented the 2nd Annual MN New Theater Conference at the Crane Theater;
• Completed a generative residency at Squirrel Haus Arts, from which we emerged with a revised theory of change and a series of exciting proposals for 2026.

Image by Robert McGrady, from a piece called Angel of Mercy.  

Our Vision for 2026

We are returning to production! We are reimagining our creative process and our organizational structure! Here are the research questions that will guide our year:

1. The philosophical question: What are the consequences of expressing or repressing our bodies' most unwieldy impulses? 

2. The structural question: In 2026, we're going to attempt radical redistribution of leadership. Does that work for us?

3. The artistic question: What do we learn through expanding our aesthetic vocabulary?

Our 2026 season is composed of three titles yet to be announced: two new works and one adaptation of an oft-craved classic. Each theatrical event will have two or more "project leads" (a term derived from Sandbox Theatre) from within our company. Each team of project leads will be given the same starting budget ($3,000) to make the show happen. Our goal of $3,000 will therefore fund the first event of our 2026 season! Thank you for reading and considering a contribution to our work. 

For more information about our past productions, follow us at @birthplayproject on Instagram or visit our website at birthplayproject.com. 

For more insight into our 2026 plans and glimpses into our process, subscribe to our Substack!

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The Birth Play Project is a sponsored project of Springboard for the Arts, a nonprofit arts service organization. Contributions on behalf of The Birth Play Project may be made payable to Springboard for the Arts and are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.