The Soul Rep Theatre Company in Dallas is shining a light on a dark part of American history.
Anyika McMillan-Herod of Dallas was commissioned to write the play “Do No Harm” which explores that time in our nation’s history.
“It’s a part of history that is very important. It’s just really fascinating how it's even resonating today so many years later,” McMillan-Herod said.
The play, to be released March 10, is a retrospective examining Dr. Marion J. Sims' practices as they pertained to the way he treated women of color in the 1840s.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
“He treated young women, many of them teenagers and girls, under the notion that Black women could endure more pain than white women. So, he would experiment on them. Gynecological procedures in the name of medical advancement, but at the expense of these women’s bodies,” McMillan-Herod said. “The reality is there are a lot of lingering ideologies in the medical field. Feelings that Sims felt and others believe to be true, even today.”
Sims is known today as the “Father of Modern Gynecology,” but McMillan-Herod and others with the Soul Rep thought it was important to tell the part of that story that many people may not know or acknowledge.
“We hope that this will be so impactful. It’s not necessarily there to reach in and grab your heart, [the play] is there to appeal to your mind and your consciousness,” said Guinea Bennett-Price, co-founder and co-artistic director of Soul Rep Theater Company.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Bennett-Price, who directed "Do No Harm," said this is just one of the many works they have put out with the theatre company.
“We understood from day one, back in 1995, that this was sort of a niche thing. A theater centered around the Black experience. Sort of a boutique theater because this work that we do and the time that we do it, we have committed ourselves to this work even before there was a market for it,” Bennett-Price said.
McMillan-Herod agreed.
“We have been telling these stories, and if we don’t tell these stories in ways that are dignified and give voice to humanity to these true periods in history, then it’s not good for us moving forward,” McMillan-Herod said.
“Do No Harm” will open on March 10 at the Wyly Theater in downtown Dallas.
