The stage and performers are shrouded in black, a symbolic color of death and mourning, or power and protection. The canvas is blank, waiting to be covered with the powerful stories of an intimately connected past.

Slowly, this space is covered in white chalk, contrasting against the black emptiness. 

Words are written down, lines are drawn and crossed out, and a circle is constructed center stage. The chalk moves with the performance, spreading across the stage and the performers’ costumes as they weave around each other in an abstract dance of reflection and storytelling.

“​​We have discovered that by storytelling through abstracted movement, we’ve been able to describe and embody things that are in some ways beyond words and really hard to talk about,” Kristin Marrs said. 

Marrs is one of the co-creators and co-performers of the show “Chalk: Breaking the Silence Around Pregnancy Loss and Infertility,” which was shown at The James Theater from March 21-24. 

In the show, she shares her personal story alongside fellow co-creator Anne Marie Nest, bringing complexity, humor, grief, and above all humanity to a common, yet not widely spoken about experience: pregnancy loss. 

As a dancer and choreographer, dance is Marrs’ primary language of performance and communication. It is also a physical mode of performance. 

“Going through miscarriages, going through infertility treatments, are also super physical experiences,” Marrs said. “There’s something in a sense about reliving that in the body, and through that conveying the intensity of the situation to our audience.” 

The utilization of chalk as a prop throughout the dance was inspired by the Bertolt Brecht play, “Caucasian Chalk Circle,” where a chalk circle is constructed to symbolize motherhood and the act of both holding on and letting go. For Marrs, this metaphor is what sparked the creation of “Chalk.”

“Connecting [“Caucasian Chalk Circle”] to my own infertility journey and how a lot of that journey was sort of recognizing what I have control over and what I don’t have control over, learning to let go was a big part of the process,” Marrs said. “Then I talked to Marie about this idea, and I was like, I think we should make a piece together about our shared journeys.”

Spurred on by the idea of collaborating with Marrs, Nest’s inspiration behind the creation of “Chalk” came from the connection between her own journey and that of her ancestors.

“I had wanted to tell the story of my journey with infertility and pregnancy loss and miscarriage, and somehow, in my thinking, it was connected to my ancestors because both my grandmother and great-grandmother lost babies, and my grief felt in some way connected to theirs,” Nest said.

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While “Chalk” is an intimate recollection of both Marrs’ and Nest’s journeys of infertility, they understand that their experiences are connected to the journeys of other women as well. 

In one segment of the show, voice messages from other women across the nation are overlaid and played back for the assembled audience.

“From the beginning, we were very clear that we didn’t want this to just be about our own kind of emotional processing, not that that wouldn’t be valuable, but that we were reflecting on how isolated both of us felt as we went through these journeys,” Marrs said. “Our hope is to be a presence for other women and their loved ones who have gone through this experience, so that they don’t feel alone.”

Another aspect of the show that reduced the feeling of isolation, which Marrs and Nest were trying to diminish, was the audience engagement and participation throughout. From holding onto and using various props to chanting along with the performance, the experience was a collaborative effort to push away the confinement women feel when dealing with infertility.

“As the show developed into this amazing work, I was just in awe,” Avery Provorse said. “It was so genuine — the way Anne Marie and Kristin performed felt like they were being so vulnerable and expressing their own experiences. They weren’t just performing, they were showing us what it was like and that really helped me draw connections.”

Provorse is a second-year University of Iowa student who worked to develop and manage Chalk’s website and social media presence. She became involved in the show last year, after beginning an Independent Creative Research Fellowship with Marrs, who served as her advisor. 

Provorse described Marrs as a “good mentor and human being,” and appreciated the fact that she always felt like a valued member of the team while developing the show. 

“Being the youngest person in a group of people can be intimidating,” Provorse said. “But everyone was so inviting and treated me as an equal. I feel like that just built a space of comfort and understanding.” 

Ultimately, comfort and connection are at the heart of what makes Chalk such a meaningful work of art. Nest and Marrs expressed their personal experiences through art, in the hope those experiences would resonate with others in the audience.

“In a time when reproductive health and rights are being so hotly debated and politicized, we hope that our artistic expression is just about the human heart and the soul,” Nest said.