ROE

Lisa Loomer’s 2016 play “Roe” follows the story of Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff for the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade and Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who argued the case. The play starts in 1970, showing the parallel lives of these two women while still centering Norma and the difficult path her life took from then, through the decision and after her conversion to evangelical Christianity and corresponding anti-choice views, ending in the 1990s.

            As most of the characters in the play are real people, I tried to draw on available photographic references whenever possible. I also researched contemporary resources such as clothing catalogs and advertisements in order to create an authentic for each of the decades outlined in the text. The first act begins in the 1970s with two very different gatherings of women: a lesbian bar and a consciousness raising group. For the first I referenced early pride events and for the second I used university photographs of similar groups. The 1980s is presented as a media circus, with the primary challenge to make the individual looks stand apart while maintaining my color palate. For this set I used photos of news anchors and the specific celebrities mentioned. The second act takes place entirely in the 90s, with my primary references being photos of pro- and anti-choice demonstrations from the period.

            Because of the decades the play traverses and the large number of individual characters I decided to limit my color palate significantly. I divided characters into two categories: Norma’s peers and those Norma sees as trying to influence her. Norma’s peers, especially the Lesbians in the first scene and her girlfriend Connie, are in warm earth tones initially, morphing into pinks for the second act. Those who are trying to influence her are in blues, with Sarah Weddington primary among them. Norma herself is always a little apart, starting in denim and red flannel, changing to denim again with white for her media storm, and ending in a variable lavender for the end when her views begin to change. The only place I broke with this formula was the court scene, where Norma is not present. In this instance I put the Wade team lawyers in browns in order to contrast them with Sarah and Linda Coffee, who are in blues.

            With the freedoms granted by the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling under constant threat it is ever more important to remember our history. The people in this story lived and fought and died and I have done my best to portray them authentically, without turning them into charicatures.