NPX Weekly Round-Up: My Body by Rachel Bublitz

A political satire critiquing the patriarchy, plus three more plays I'm intrigued by this week.

Mar 03, 2025

Hello friends! The content warnings for this week’s play are as follows: blatant gender discrimination; discussions of sexual assault and bodily autonomy; government interference with human rights. If that’s too much for you, I wouldn’t add this to your NPX library. Take care of yourself!

As I said last week, I’m getting into writing more short plays. I had noticed that a lot of submission opportunities were passing me by simply because I didn’t have any ten to sixty minute plays I felt super confident in. This year is definitely changing that.

After reading Alicia Margarita Olivo’s one-act play last week, I decided to try my hand at writing one! I had had an intriguing image in my head for a few days after listening to my favorite podcast, And That’s Why We Drink, talk about a poltergeist case from Australia, so I thought I’d explore it. And that’s how I wrote a twenty-one page one act in three hours on a Tuesday night! I joked to my best friend that I ‘had playwriting for dinner’, and then she yelled at me to eat real food. Ah, the misadventures of an ADHD-ridden creative.

Anyways.

Since I’m on this journey to nail down the short form play, I read a bunch of ten minute plays this week (thank you sort-by-length filter!) including: Monsters Beyond the Midnight Zone by Lindsay Partain; Crazy Quilts by Karen Fix Curry; and My Body by Rachel Bublitz. I decided I wanted to discuss the one that I personally felt I had learned the most from, which was Bublitz’s piece.

Here is the summary of My Body from NPX:

In a world in which men are no longer trusted to make decisions concerning their own bodies, women hold all of the cards.

This piece was a finalist for the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival in 2020, and has since been performed in many high schools and colleges across the country. What really struck me to notice, however, was that the earliest credits listed for this play go all the way back to 2012. Yeah, you read that right. 2012, i.e. thirteen years ago. Clearly, despite this piece’s length, Bublitz put a lot of time, effort, research, and love into this piece.

The premise is simple— in an alternate universe, the government has mandated that all people assigned male at birth must wear a collar starting at puberty that prevents them from participating in unauthorized sexual acts. To get the collar removed, the person (in this particular scene/play, a cis man) must fill out piles of paperwork, obtain recommendations, and be married.

Patrick, just a regular guy, is having a meeting with Laura, a government employee, to petition to have his collar removed. He is overly polite, demure, and cooperative. Laura looks over his paperwork, commenting on how organized and put together it is, until she believes she has found a mistake— there is no marriage license among the paperwork. Patrick states that he is not married or engaged, which Laura reacts poorly to. She forcefully rejects his application, which moves Patrick to state how unfair the whole thing is. This is where Laura reveals that the implementation of these collars has eliminated STIs and nearly eliminated rape and sexual abuse. The two have an argument about the price of safety, what constitutes a child, and the ownership of ones body. Eventually, Laura threatens to call security and “permanently reject” Patrick’s application if he does not leave. She asks him to smile…and he does. With little fight left in him, Patrick cordially leaves Laura’s office. Just before the lights come down, Laura says to herself: “…What a little bitch.”

I think it’s pretty easy to tell what Bublitz has done here— reversed the experiences of men and women under patriarchy to highlight just how horribly women have been and continue to be treated. There are little references to this throughout the play, such as when Laura calls AMAB masturbation “child abandonment” and Patrick replies that sperm are not children. In my opinion, this is a cheeky reference to how anti-choice people refer to abortion as murder. Essentially, this is true satire— using exaggeration to showcase how ridiculous and stupid patriarchal and misogynistic belief systems are. Bublitz really makes the reader/audience think about not only the misogyny inherent in our society, but about the ridiculous rhetoric used by people in power today.

I don’t know that Bublitz knew when she first began working on this play in 2012 how relevant it would still be today, thirteen years later. Honestly, she’s probably not psyched about it (I know I’m not). When we have a sexual predator running the country, and a far right movement looking to take as many rights away from anybody who isn’t a straight Christian white cisgender man as possible, work like this becomes even more important. It’s so, so pertinent to get art like this in front of as many people as possible to help people think critically about what is happening around them. Blast Paris Paloma in the middle of Walmart or something for gods sakes, I’m getting desperate here!

While I have never considered myself a satirist, I think reading it (and other genres I don’t write in) is still very valuable. This play had expertly included world-building that didn’t feel overly exposition-y or shoved in, which really bolstered the message of the work. Not only that, it was yet another great example of power dynamics in a scene! The way that Laura and Patrick interact with each other, when Patrick chooses to speak up (or not), what words they choose, what persuasive facts they try to throw out— all of it was deftly woven into a power play that had me on the edge of my seat. Laura always, truly, has the power. But those few times when Patrick makes a grab for it? Goose bumps.

Here is my official recommendation from NPX:

A piece that actively uses satire to highlight and ridicule the ridiculous misogyny inherent in society. Bublitz brings up many salient points that emphasize the abuse that women and AFAB people face on a daily basis, usually at the hands of cis men. Powerful, poignant, and expertly written.

Have you read this play? Do you want to? Let me know your thoughts on this post in the comments!

A Playwright's Journey

Discussion about this post