Anyone who thinks this would have my wholehearted and openpocketbooked
support. Certainly Planned Parenthood and nurses and clinic
workers and such people were exceedingly helpful to us when
we were working on the script and mounting a workshop production.
They volunteered for talk-backs, came in groups, etc.
The play has too many (all female) characters to "make
sense" as a commercial enterprise. I am disappointed that
it hasn't been taken up by colleges, where female actors generally
outnumber the available parts that are able to play. However,
the structure of "Under Siege" is such that while
the 5 counselors would have to be played by "professional"
(or excellent seasoned community theatre) actors, the 20 patients
who have "cameos" could be played by community activists
or "celebrities" who connect in a visceral way with
the patient's individual stories, just as is done in the fund-raising
events organized around The Vagina Monologues. The Producer
in me is a totally ineffective person-- pessimist and skeptic,
and temperamentally unable to pick up the phone and Ask Nicely
for What Is Needed. I'm fine at supporting an Optimist, though!
And the play itself is a comedy, full of hope and idealism and
suffused with the admiration and even awe I felt for the courageous
women I met while I was working on it. (4/26/05)
by 
