Behind the Sheet

See it if -

Don't see it if -

See it if You want to know the real deal about how slaves were treated - subjects of surgical experimentation without any regard for safety or dignity

Don't see it if You are squeamish or want a whitewashed version of how medical advances were made.

See it if you want to see slightly fictionalized history that doesn't pull its punches.

Don't see it if you are bothered by slavery, pain or reality

Also This play is very well written. It is performed in an intimate setting with excellent actors. It will hold your rapt attention throughout. It is not for the squeamish but shows some history of medicine in its raw, unregulated reality. It will make you think.... Read more Read less

See it if You care anything for woman's Issues or slave issues. Small intimate production that is very emotional. I only saw a preview and it’s ready!

Don't see it if You aren’t willing to open your heart or don’t like fictionalized history.

See it if you'd like to see a highly effective production of a brilliant young playwright engaging difficult historical material that speaks to today.

Don't see it if you cannot bear to see people in physical pain.

Also Charly Evon Simpson is an acutely powerful, distinctive young voice. I attended a reading of a play of hers last summer. Impressed, I introduced myself & got on her mailing list. Since then I’ve seen a short play of hers, a full-length, & heard her read a speech from yet another play. Though very different, all were similarly brilliant. Yet nothing quite prepared me for the gut-punch of “Behind the Sheet,” a deeply affecting look at the lives of a group of young black slave women from the 1840s who share the fate of being subjects in what in effect was an unregulated clinical trial. In the other Simpson material I’ve seen, she tinkers gently, effectively with dramatic form. Here, except for a few short passages of choreographed movement, the play is straightforward, taut, searingly dramatic, unsentimental but unafraid of feeling. EST’s intimate space is perfect for this, the set handsome, the cast near flawless & Naomi Lorrain luminous. Easily the best thing I’ve seen this young year.... Read more Read less

See it if The Ensemble Studio Theater never disappoints....Great acting, great staging and a great script...It's riveting...

Don't see it if You are bothered by talk of surgery or OB-GYN medical issues...

See it if you're interested in the voices of Black women erased by history, you're interested in medical ethics

Don't see it if you're looking for something light. Be prepared that the characters being portrayed are experiencing a great deal of pain.

See it if If you like women's' history, untold stories. Great direction as well

Don't see it if If you do not like serious subjects

See it if Medical history brought to life. Ethical dissonance between dedicated innovation & racist coercion. Nuanced relationships among the women.

Don't see it if You don't want to see people in pain. You are not interested in the slave women's perspective. Some awkward staging w/ blocked sight lines.

See it if you are interested in a play based on facts which describe how slave women were used as guinea pigs in Ob-Gyn experiments.

Don't see it if you have no interest in this subject; slavery issues distress you; women's issues are not your thing either.

Also What distressed me most about this play was that the motive of the doctor was not to help women per se, but to make the slaves well so that they could return to work and have value as commodities. This was a very sensitive treatment of this subject, and well worth seeing.... Read more Read less

See it if you would enjoy a well written, terrifically acted drama about interesting (fictionalized historical) events.

Don't see it if You should see this, but try to see it on a night when you can face wrenching depictions of cruelty toward enslaved women.

See it if A probing, well written theatrical look at the history of medicine, human experimentation and the US abuses of indenturtude and slavery

Don't see it if You don’t want to have your sense of outrage evoked in a small intimate staging. Go

See it if you are willing to view costs of dehumanization in the name of scientific advancement.

Don't see it if rape and misogyny will trigger you

Also The author apologizes for making Dr. Sims a rapist, for which there is no historical evidence. Certainly, that behavior was common on plantations and adds emphasis to slaves' position as property, but it might be going too. far.

One thing that is certain from the historical narrative is that Sims, despite all that he did medically for women, was a misogynist. An emphasis on that fact plus the treatment of the slaves as property lacking humanity might have made the story stronger.... Read more Read less

See it if you can face women in slavery subjected to dozens of excruciating, experimental, surgeries without anesthesia, others holding them down.

Don't see it if If you lack the ability to put yourself in other people's shoes.

Also This is a very difficult play, but a story that must be told.

It was staged, beautifully, and the medical scenes were editited with care while still showing the average viewer enough to understand, and the empathetic viewer enough to truly be effected.

Many atrocities faced by the women are addressed, not just the surgeries, and I am glad that, at least, the actresses got to have a voice in the end.

We can never make things right for Lucy, Anarcha, Betsey and the other, unnamed, women but we can remember their suffering and honor them for allowing this treatment to advance.

Sadly, even today, women are still suffering from this condition and being thrown out of their families and communities over it. Anywhere there is poverty and anywhere that women do not have equality and access to good medical care during child birth, they are at risk.... Read more Read less

See it if you like seeing well- done plays about characters who were powerless being given a voice.

Don't see it if Gynecological stuff bothers you.

See it if A true and utterly heartwrenching play about a doctor in the old south who uses black women as guinea pigs in gynecological experiments !

Don't see it if Not for the faint of heart although I know you will learn a lot if you decide to see this.. !

See it if Pioneer Doctor of Gynecology developed surgical corrective procedure by performing trial operations on slaves using little or no anesthetic.

Don't see it if You do not want to be reminded that at one time human beings were considered property and treated like animals.

See it if you like plays based on history, especially little remembered portions, with modern language and attitudes

Don't see it if you're looking for a lighthearted story or fancy staging

See it if you'd like eye-opening histl fiction about "the father of gynecology." Strong acting, impressive staging. Fascinating, horrific, impt story.

Don't see it if you want a fast pace. BTS needs cuts (it drags); some dialogue seems too modern. I liked the end speeches abt real dr, but I still googled.

See it if Simpson's medical/historical drama engages both intellect & emotions Interaction of women undercuts any dryness of material Well staged

Don't see it if Can get bogged down in the medically arcane & pacing can be slow Acting is uneven but Lorrain's Philomena holds a powerful evening together

See it if You are interested in a drama loosely based on true events that deals with the issue of medical racism

Don't see it if You want to see a musical, comedy or a lavish production or if you have no interest in medical drama

See it if very dark and informative about some really tough times, really uncomfortable theatre in a GOOD way, very important messages in this one

Don't see it if this does take place during slavery so if that is triggering keep that in mind, not looking for something dark, sensitive to miscarriage

See it if you want a fictionalized account of unethical medical history, a horrible byproduct of slavery; to support promising new writer and director

Don't see it if mix of fact/fiction and some anachronisms disturb you; scenes of slavery and suggestions of crude medical procedures are triggering

Also Like MISS EVERS' BOYS, this play unearths an appalling episode of medical malfeasance perpetrated against African Americans in the name of the advancement of science. While the events of BEHIND THE SHEET take place some 75 years earlier, during slavery, it similarly attempts the story of an oppressed group of medical subjects--though the women of BEHIND THE SHEET are all too aware they are essentially guinea pigs for the white doctor (based on Dr. J. Marion Sims) in his search for an effective method of repairing uterine fistulae. While clearly an injustice worth bringing to light, playwright Simpson struggles to find the drama in her group portrait as the play moves to its unsurprising conclusion. The mystery structure of sorts that animated MISS EVERS' BOYS is not germane to this story, so Simpson is left to closely observe the effects of the medical experimentation on a representative group of female slaves, understandably sketching in mostly broad strokes. A fine cast, however!... Read more Read less

See it if If you want a play with shock value. Dehumanizing, edgy piece.

Don't see it if If you want a lighter play. If your not into emotional, painstaking plays.

See it if you're interested in gruesome medical history brought to life. I felt like I learned a lot about things I really didn't want to know

Don't see it if you like character development, plot and the typical ups and downs in most plays, this isn't for the faint of heart