Who we are

In an era in which matters of reproductive health can be highly political and polarizing, Chalk — a dance theater performance weaving stories of pregnancy loss and infertility, focuses on commonality and shared humanity. 

Created and performed by dancer/choreographer Kristin Marrs and theater artist Anne Marie Nest, Chalk lays bare the intensity, complexity and absurdity of the artists’ struggles through miscarriages and extreme medical interventions, transforming private grief into collective understanding.

As part of the performance, a public call was made for audio recordings of people’s experience with infertility. Chalk’s producers were flooded with responses, with a common theme of feeling isolated in what is actually a very common experience.  As interviewee Jessie Cole Santala said, “I felt SO alone after my first miscarriage. I didn’t know anyone who had one. Turns out I knew a lot of people who had, but it’s just not something people talk about.” 

Says co-creator Marrs, "While I knew the statistics for rates of miscarriage, it wasn't until I had my own repeated losses that I comprehended the depth of the devastation.”

Psychologist Jessica Zucker, founder of the #IHadAMiscarriage movement and author of a book by the same name, articulates her research in the World Health Organization's report on Child Loss and Maternal Health:

“Losing a baby in pregnancy through miscarriage or stillbirth is still a taboo subject worldwide, linked to stigma and shame. Many women still do not receive appropriate and respectful care when their baby dies during pregnancy or childbirth.... Around the world, women have varied access to healthcare services, and hospitals and clinics in many countries are very often under-resourced and understaffed. As varied as the experience of losing a baby may be, around the world, stigma, shame and guilt emerge as common themes. Women are often not encouraged to talk about their experience and loss. They are made to believe they should stay silent. This can lead to isolation and disconnection, even from their partners and close family, and means that women end up trapped in their own personal grief. Such compounded pain is unacceptable.”

Co-creator Nest says that she and Marrs created the show to “provide others who know this particular grief some solace, support, and sense of belonging - and those who have not, a deeper understanding and compassion."

“My hope is that Chalk will provide women and their partners with a space to tell their own stories,” says Marrs. “And that it will provide their communities with a willingness to hear them."

THEATER ARTIST

Anne Marie is a professional actor, voice and speech specialist, and executive communications coach. As a professional actor and voice coach, she has worked at Playwrights Horizons, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Denver Center Theatre Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Ensemble Studio Theater, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, and Shakespeare Orange County. She has also appeared on television shows including: Law & Order, Life on Mars, Untitled Even and Garth Project, Guiding Light, As the World Turns, and One Life to Live.  Anne Marie has devised many new works of theatre with companies such as Anne Bogart’s SITI Company and The Beggars Group NYC (founding member). In addition, Anne Marie has taught at University of Iowa and Marymount Manhattan College and worked as an executive coach for hundreds of companies within the Fortune 500 and AM Law 200.

DANCER/CHOREOGRAPHER

Kristin Marrs is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher of dance and Alexander Technique based in Iowa City, Iowa. A native Iowan, she is passionate about promoting the arts and arts education in her home state.

Kristin has performed as a company member of Columbus Dance Theatre, Ballet Quad Cities, Northern Ballet Theatre, Arova Contemporary Ballet, Paradise Ballet Theatre, Opera Columbus and Images of Dance. Some of her favorite roles include the Milkmaid in Ashton’s Facade, the Snowy Egret Queen in Alun Jones’ Nutcracker Key West, solo performance in Kennet Oberly’s Goldberg Variations.

Kristin’s choreography has been performed at universities and ballet companies around the United States. Recent collaborations include O Quanto Qualia, a multi-disciplinary work featuring original composition by Jacob Bancks and performance by violinist Sabrina Tabby of Atlys String Quartet, and When Trees Say Nothing, created with fiber and paper artist Mary Merkel-Hess.

Kristin is an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of Iowa Department of Dance.