axes, herbs and satchels at Guild Hall

Rooted in the history and embodied wisdom of doulas and midwives, axes, herbs and satchels is a celebration of traditional knowledge held in the Black birth worker community and a potent examination of maternal mortality. This performance experience is an act of reparative history and a space for communal learning, reckoning, and healing. 

The United States has a maternal mortality rate that is three times higher than any other high-income country. Black and Indigenous birthing people are particularly at risk, with death rates up to three times more likely than their white counterparts. Modern medicine may be at our fingertips, but did it come at the cost of losing the ancient practices of doulas and midwives? Did it come at the cost of safety for Black and Indigenous birthing bodies?

The play is being devised from an array of research materials; first hand accounts, medical textbooks, ethnological research, and primary sources documenting granny midwives and the history of midwifery.

Devised by The Anthropologists
Co-Directed by Sandie Luna and Melissa Moschitto
Contributing Writer: Devynity Wray
Assistant Direction/Line Producer: Jayda Jones 
Stage Management: Ara Tandon
Ensemble: Nazlah Black, Jalissa Fulton, Asha John, Brianna Johnson, Sandie Luna, Nadia Mbonde
Research Assistant: Shreyaa Suresh
Press & Marketing: Avery Rudd