Landmark abortion rights case inspires Goodman's provocative 'Roe'

“Roe” - ★ ★ ★ ½

My late aunt insisted every dispute has three sides: There's your side, the other person's side and, somewhere in the middle, the truth.

Watching Goodman Theatre's Chicago premiere of “Roe,” Lisa Loomer's provoking, highly theatrical examination of the divisive Roe v. Wade case and the Supreme Court's 1973 decision establishing abortion rights, I couldn't help thinking how right my aunt was.

Loomer crafts the funny, evenhanded “Roe” as competing, sometimes contradictory narratives delivered by the women central to the case (each of whom reminds us her version is available in book form). Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff known as Jane Roe (a consequential performance by Kate Middleton), is a poor, volatile, hard-living, self-described lesbian who's 22 and pregnant with her third child. She wants an abortion. Instead she gets a lawyer who's seeking a plaintiff to challenge Texas' abortion prohibition. She is the young, perfectly coifed Sarah Weddington (the impeccable, impassioned Christina Hall), who argues Norma's case alongside Linda Coffee (a droll Meg Warner). The only participant who didn't write a book, Coffee offers a most cogent observation.

“It's very hard to talk objectively about history,” she says, “about the truth.”

Over pizza and beer, Norma - boasting she “never said no to a fight” - agrees to be Jane Roe. Conflicting versions of the events follow, during which Norma, Sarah and other characters (including majority opinion author Justice Harry Blackmun) often interrupt each other to share their stories and the omissions, revisions and misconceptions therein.

Loomer concisely details arguments before the Supreme Court (accompanied by actual recordings of the justices) and the aftermath of that decision, specifically Norma's renunciation of Roe, her subsequent religious conversion and her work with the anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue.

Along the way we meet Norma's longtime lover Connie (a deeply compassionate Stephanie Diaz), the play's conscience, who tells us “Norma wasn't pro-choice or pro-life, she was just pro-Norma.”

We also meet Flip Benham (an affably authentic Ryan Kitley), an evangelical minister and Operation Rescue member who welcomes Norma into his church and encourages her to disavow Roe.

There are some minor missteps. The second act's vitriolic town hall between abortion rights proponents and opponents felt a bit deliberate in the way it mirrored the nation's current sociopolitical divide. The cameo caricature of high-profile attorney Gloria Allred is unnecessary, and Loomer's characters throughout remain mostly two-dimensional. Norma's mother, Mary (a chilling Kirsten Fitzgerald), is a straight-up villain. And Loomer never explains Connie's unconditional devotion to Norma or why she stays after Norma all but abandons her following her religious conversion.

That said, Middleton and Hall provide dimension to client and attorney. Middleton is sympathetic and exasperating as the needy, easily manipulated, uncomprehending Norma eager to please anyone paying her attention. In Hall's Sarah - who knows an opportunity when she sees one - we find a woman more committed to women in general than to her client in particular.

The action in Goodman's keenly acted production unfolds beneath set designer Collette Pollard's stately columns evoking the nation's high court and suggesting the weight of its rulings. They're flanked by walls of stage lights representing the national spotlight that - in the debate over abortion rights - never dims.

Director Vanessa Stalling, a smart, skilled storyteller, underscores the play with unease and urgency. That urgency is fueled by the persistent concern that Roe may be overturned, evidenced by regulations some states have imposed limiting access to abortion.

Loomer stresses the outsize impact those restrictive measures have on women of color, poor women and young women, as Jessica Dean Turner's sympathetic nurse Aileen points out. To that end, Stalling places nonspeaking ensemble members in the wings where - visible to the audience - they watch impassively, dubiously, cynically - as others decide choices the Supreme Court held were theirs.

Of course, choice figures prominently in “Roe” and in relation to issues other than abortion. But as ever, circumstances often impact options. For good or ill, race, class, education, geography and gender determine our choices, a point Loomer's play makes clear.

Location: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, (312) 443-3800 or goodman theatre.org

Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 23. Also 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 and 11 and 2 p.m. Feb. 13 and 20

Tickets: $20-$70

Running time: About 2 hours, 10 minutes with intermission

Parking: $22 with Goodman validation at the Government Self Park at Lake and Clark streets

Rating: For adults; includes mature language and subject matter