Skin To Skin
Premiering 2027
Aricely, Hazel and Janae live in the height of the American epidemic of Black Maternal Mortality. How do they hold the joy of pregnancy and navigate the fear of putting their bodies into a system they do not trust?
Three women. Three trimesters. Three stories. A new play about birthing while Black in America.
Inspired by the true stories of Black mothers and midwives, and the impact of systemic racism in the labor and delivery rooms, SKIN TO SKIN is a new theatrical project led by playwright Jeremy J. Kamps and Trixie Ndanu Kioko, a midwife and birthing justice advocate.
In 2023, Kamps and Kioko facilitated a series of creative storytelling and investigative workshops with Black mothers.
The workshops fostered connection and community through group discussion, reflective exercises, creative
improvisation, and dramatization of real-life events.
Inspired by the workshops, and with Kioko’s consultancy, Kamps developed the play’s script, which follows three
women’s journeys through pregnancy, labor, and delivery. These tales explore how differing social identifiers, life
experiences, abilities, biases, and systemic prejudices impact individuals’ birthing experiences. The play seeks to
uplift these stories, illuminate the inequities of US medical systems, and celebrate the incredible birthing process as
well as Black women’s joys, wisdom, and shared humanity.
SKIN TO SKIN had its first full-length industry reading in April 2025 at NYC’s Open Jar Studios. Development continues through workshop presentations as part of the Rough Draft Festival at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center on October 27 & 28, 2026, and a benefit reading celebrating Houses’ 25th Anniversary on November 9, 2026 at Five Angels Theater.
With direction by Rosalyn Coleman Williams, the world premiere of SKIN TO SKIN is slated for March 11-28, 2027, co-produced by HERE Arts Center.
