Chicago Tribune
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Huang has a valid point of view about the elite Americans’ casual dismissal of the trial’s side effects, tainted as they surely were with at least a degree of racist disregard and elitism. It is worth noting that Planned Parenthood famously disavowed Sanger in the fervent political year of 2020 (although not without controversy). And you cannot accuse this piece of not having a strong point of view."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...Brooks is beautifully matched by Mary Beth Fisher’s McCormick, whose unconsummated marriage to Cyrus McCormick’s youngest son, Stanley, a person with schizophrenia from whom she mostly lived apart, has given her a hunger to see women be able to pursue their carnal desires without fear of unwanted pregnancies."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...The opening production of TimeLine's first full season in its gorgeous new home in Uptown, the world premiere of Jessica Huang's The Birth of the Pill, gets off to an inauspicious start. On Regina García's lovely set, all warm earth tones and tourmaline tiles, a young woman, Ramona Delgado (María Victoria Martínez), sits on a park bench. She's just finished reading The Birth of the Pill, Jonathan Eig's bestselling and critically adored account of the development of the birth control pill (Eig later won a Pulitzer for his 2023 biography of Martin Luther King Jr.). What follows is about five minutes of painful banter from Delgado toward the audience. She exhorts them to read the book, drops a few hints as to the play, and generally behaves in a manner akin to the annoying emcee at your nephew's bar mitzvah, at which point I found myself wishing I had partaken in a stronger pre-show tipple than coffee."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...Director Sandra Marquez kept the pace up and has wisely rested the likeability of these complex characters in María Victoria MartÍnez’ chameleon-like portrayal of a multitude, as well as casting Janet Ulrich Brooks as the iconic Sanger. Even as the topic of women controlling their own bodies comes up again now in the US with our own new version of Comstock laws, this play is not heavy handed. It lays out the story and you can feel and become enraged at the system as you will."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews
- Highly Recommended
"...Playwright Jessica Huang, along with the very talented Sandra Marquez as director, takes a deeper dive into the historical narrative of the birth of the Pill, bringing to life the large-scale human trials for the birth control pill that were conducted in Puerto Rico, Río Piedras and other areas in Puerto Rico, utilizing an existing network of local birth control clinics to avoid the legalities of working on the distribution of contraceptives within their state. With minimal regulatory oversight, this location allowed the researchers to operate with impunity. Their deceptive practices occurred under limited surveillance, and the residents lacked the political power to resist."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...This is an amazing year for Timeline Theatre! Imagine: 30 years of bringing quality and historical theater to the Greater Chicago theater audiences, and now in their own home, bringing a very special World Premiere Play to this new stage. Not just any play, but one based on a book written by Jonathan Eig, dealing with a topic that changed the world: "The Pill"!"
Chicago Theatre Review
- Recommended
"...Jonathan Eig’s fascinating story of The Birth of the Pill, adapted by Jessica Huang, depicts one the most important scientific and cultural discoveries of the twentieth century. As always at TimeLine Theatre, History comes alive in Sandra Marquez’s excellent production. The story’s told by six talented actors who truly know their craft and how to play comedy."
The Fourth Walsh
- Highly Recommended
"...Margaret Sanger's crusade for birth control is pretty legendary. The others collaborating in pursuit of The Pill aren't perhaps as familiar. Dr. John Rock, Catholic obstetrician, teaching the rhythm method. Dr. Pincus working in vitro fertilization. And Katharine McCormick, advocate for women's rights and biologist, inheriting a fortune. Their passions intersect to change everything for women's independence, sexual freedom and career advancement. Their journey to scientific breakthrough is chronicled in Jonathan Eig's "The Birth of the Pill.""
Third Coast Review
- Recommended
"...White feminism is a helluva drug, as is the birth control pill, which finally offered women more reproductive choices. These societal shifts are plumbed in TimeLine Theatre Company's world premiere of The Birth of the Pill, directed by Sandra Marquez and written by Jessica Huang, based on the book by Jonathan Eig, opening the 30th anniversary season in the theater's new Uptown space with that new theater smell. Timeline inaugurated the new building in May with its production of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People."
Chicago On Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...You know it. You and/or family members have probably used it. And you’ve probably taken it for granted, but the Pill has been a game-changing invention in many ways. Timeline Theatre’s world premiere of The Birth of the Pill is part history lesson, part inventive comedy, part provocative drama, and fully not to be missed."
PicksInSix
- Highly Recommended
"...Inside TimeLine Theatre’s comfortable and cozy first floor bar and café on opening night of Jessica Huang’s fascinating and informative play, “The Birth of the Pill” on Thursday night, there was a heightened air of anticipation. It has been only a few months since TimeLine moved into its new home at 5035 North Broadway and you can already feel the impact of the bustling arts hub and newest live theatrical anchor in the heart of Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood."
MaraTapp.org
- Recommended
"...The Birth of the Pill has many fine and funny moments but it has major flaws as well. What makes it worth watching, aside from the fine acting, is its parade of incredible ironies and obstacles that are so that are so in keeping with American self-deception and bureaucracy. After the show, the Brilliant Redhead and I spent some time on serious questions it raised for us, ones worth pondering and discussing. For example, what lens should we apply to history – our contemporary one that judges past actions from a modern perspective or the lens of its time in history when ethical questions were often presented but hideous events still happened."
Curtain Call Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...The Birth of the Pill by Jessica Huang based on the book by Jonathan Eig, is a thoughtful, timely and ethically challenging addition to Chicago’s fall theater season. It’s an account that both honors the ingenuity behind a scientific revolution, but puts a reckoning with ethical considerations and the human price paid on the front burner. As always, it’s a story best told by Timeline whose mission is bringing history alive and always with an incredibly talented cast."
Splash Magazine
- Highly Recommended
"...TimeLine Theatre begins their inaugural 30th Anniversary Season with the world premiere, The Birth of the Pill in their new venue in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Based on the 2014 book by Johnathan Eig, the company invited the author to collaborate with playwright Jessica Huang and director Sandra Marquez in the creation of the play. What comes from this team is an informative performance mixed with history, comedy, drama, and even shares details which were not in the original source material."
