Review: ‘The Birth of the Pill’ at TimeLine Theatre has serious issues with the book it is adapting, tell me about this news in (https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/09/14/review-birth-pill-timeline-theatre/)

The Chicago Tribune review discusses the world premiere adaptation of Jonathan Eig’s 2014 nonfiction book, The Birth of the Pill, written by playwright Jessica Huang and staged at TimeLine Theatre in Chicago.Rather than staging a straightforward, faithful page-to-stage adaptation, the production actively interrogates and challenges its source material:

• Critique of the Original Narrative: The review highlights that the stage adaptation takes serious issue with the book’s framing. While Eig’s book primarily celebrates the four key figures behind the pillcrusader Margaret Sanger, philanthropist Katharine McCormick, scientist Gregory Pincus, and physician John Rockthe play points out the historical oversights and blind spots in that heroic narrative.
• Centering the Exploited Women: The play reframes the historical narrative by placing the Puerto Rican clinical trials and the women subjected to them at the core of the story. Rather than treating these women as a footnote or mere stepping stones to scientific progress, the production introduces Ramona Delgado (played by María Victoria Martínez) to narrate and challenge the events, confronting the lack of informed consent, ethical violations, and high cost paid by marginalized women.
• A Meta-Theatrical “Conversation”: The production incorporates Jonathan Eig himself into the fabric of the show as a character (doubled with Gregory Pincus). Through this meta-theatrical device, the play stages an overt debate between the modern dramatist and the author, questioning how history is recorded, who gets left out of the narrative, and how our understanding of reproductive rights and medical ethics looks in a post-Roe v. Wade era.