Author Jonathan Eig with playwright Jessica Huang at TimeLine Theatre discussing Huang’s world premiere play “The Birth of the Pill,” based on the book by Eig/Photo: Lara Goetsch

“The Birth of the Pill,” a world premiere written by Jessica Huang, adapted from my book of the same name, opens September 10 at TimeLine Theatre. I got together with Jessica to talk about the play—about birth control, about the people who get left out of the history books and about how a character named “Jon Eig” worked his way into Jessica’s play.

How would you describe this play for somebody who’s thinking about coming to see it?

It’s about the invention of the birth control pill, about scientists and activists coming together and dreaming up something that was really impossible and figuring out how to make it happen. And it’s also about a woman who represents the women it was tested on who hasn’t really made it into the history books, even though I think she’s equally important or more important than the people who invented this thing.

You’re talking about a character named Ramona Delgado. With Ramona, you’ve made this a play about history—and who gets left out of history. How did that become a part of this play?

That was one of the first things I knew about the play. I started taking the birth control pill when I was a teenager. When I read your book, one of the most striking things about it was wrapping my mind around what life could have been like for me if it hadn’t been invented. And the other thing that was important to me was the story of the Puerto Rican women who it was tested on.

Who tells the story and what they bring to it makes a world of difference.

When I think about my own body of work, there’s a good chunk of the plays that I’ve written or am writing that are adaptations, that are in conversation with work that already exists. Even my plays that are complete inventions come from a lot of research, and I think that’s because of my background as a journalist, and also my interest in telling stories that have some connection to our history.

I’m rarely drawn to the version that’s just the straight adaptation, where the playwright is sort of invisible.

Author Jonathan Eig and director Sandra Marquez in conversation at the first rehearsal of “The Birth of the Pill.”/Photo: Emma Schoenfelner

I like to think I’m invisible when I’m writing a book. With this one in particular, you know, I’m a man writing a story that’s focused almost entirely on women. But I still try to tell myself that I’m invisible. And you’ve kind of ruined that now by putting me in your play. Why?

Well, first of all I am so grateful that you’ve been willing to go to the awkward place. Like you said, while this is a play about a historical event, it’s also a play about history and about who tells it and who is missing, and about which version of events trickles down to people.

Right. History depends on who’s telling it and when they’re telling it and who’s reading it and when they’re reading it. We’re telling the story of five or six people we’ve never met, who lived in the first half of the twentieth century and whose lives ripple through our lives because they created this powerful pill. And then I come along and tell their story in 2013 and you come along and tell their story in 2026, and the story keeps changing. Where’s the truth?

It reminds me of “Couples Therapy.” Have you seen that TV show? This incredible couples therapist facilitates conversations between different couples. And one of the things that has been said on that show, is that there’s no use in figuring out who started a fight. Both truths have to be heard—and respected—in the conversation. And I guess maybe that I feel like our country could really use a little couples therapy right now so that we can hear each other’s histories and truths and respect it instead of pointing fingers.

One of the things I love about the play is that you’re challenging the audience to think about how they should balance their feelings. How should we feel about the fact that Ramona suffered so that women could have access to effective birth control?

If you ask somebody who’s been violated, was your violation worth it, it never is, right? So what do we do with the fact that this thing that changed the world, that, you know, allowed me to be a writer and have the life I want… How do I hold on to the fact that it came on the backs of women who suffered greatly and were exploited. It is a lot like grief, you know; you have to move through it, I think.

Director Sandra Marquez (from left), playwright Jessica Huang and author Jonathan Eig during a rehearsal of “The Birth of the Pill.”/Photo: Lara Goetsch

I feel like I should point out that the play is also really funny. And sexy! Why is it that sex gets left out of the birth control story? The characters in this play wanted people to have more sex and enjoy it, right? Is that why reproductive rights are still so controversial?

I mean, I have my very cynical point of view, which is just that access to sex and pleasure is limited to a certain population, and the more power they have over everyone else… It’s like any resource, right? I think sex and pleasure is a beautiful resource that should be accessible in abundance to everyone on the planet. But so long as it’s protected for a few, then there’s another lever you can pull to exercise power and control.

The people who invented the pill thought about this. They believed that if women gained reproductive rights we’d have more women in positions of leadership and we’d have less war. Less war, more sex. It’s a win-win.

Right!

So you’ve written this great play. Why risk ruining it by bringing in this “Jon Eig” character?

Well, he’s tall, dark and handsome, as you said.* He’s a really good hang, really great ideas.

Keep going! (Laughs)

For Ramona, this is the most important story of her life. And I think she believes that the person who told it the best is Jon Eig. And, still, Jon didn’t interview her. I think she wants to know what he was thinking.

She wants to be seen and heard.

What is that like for you?

I think about this stuff all the time. I’m telling other people’s stories without their permission. And sometimes I’m leaving people out. Sometimes I’m deciding I don’t have room for them. What right do I have to do that? I have to make those decisions every day, and it’s ruthless. I do the best I can, but there’s no way I can give everybody the attention they deserve. Which is why I love the idea that Jessica Huang might come along and correct some of my mistakes—and maybe she makes some of her own mistakes, and if we’re lucky we all get a little closer to the truth.

*When Jessica first mentioned the idea of putting a “Jon Eig” character in the play, over drinks at the Palmer House, Jon said he was fine with it as long as the actor cast in the part was tall, dark and handsome.

“The Birth of the Pill,” based on the book by Jonathan Eig, will run September 2-October 4, 2026 at TimeLine Theatre Company, 5035 North Broadway, timelinetheatre.com

Published in the print edition of the September 2026 issue, with the headline “Seen and Heard: How ‘The Birth of the Pill’ Moved from a History Book to the Stage.”