Interview with an escort

Marie Bain is bringing back her one-woman show that details the actress’ 2005 dismissal as a local Catholic high-school drama teacher. In what became a news-making firing, Bain was kicked out because of her previous involvement with Sacramento’s Planned Parenthood, where she escorted patients past a vocal (and sometimes physical) group of protesters that crowds the clinic’s sidewalk every day.

Turns out the school supported the popular teacher, but was over-ruled by Catholic Bishop William Wiegand, who stated that “public participation in the procurement of abortions is morally inappropriate and unacceptable.” Bain still was fired, though had ceased volunteering by the time she was teaching.

Appalled at what she calls distortions and lies surrounding her dismissal, Bain not only financially settled a suit, she also followed it up by writing and performing her solo show, titled Baby Killer, at the Sacramento YWCA in the spring of ’06.

“The only way to fight this is to make it public,” she says, while preparing for a current six-week run of her show, re-titled Baby Killer: Fired for Immorality, at the Geery Theatre. “What happened to me was outrageous. A small, vocal group tries to force their beliefs on other people. This show is [about] how these people took away my life, my livelihood.”

Bain, who has an extensive theater background, began taking notes as soon as she was told there might be a problem with her past history at Planned Parenthood. “I knew shit was going to happen as soon as the Bishop got involved.”

The new run of the show is different in two ways: Bain added “Fired for Immorality” to the title because people thought Baby Killer was a murder mystery or horror spoof. And the length of the run will generate word-of-mouth interest, she said. “Except for a couple extremists, I’ve gotten nothing but support from the community following my firing, and subsequently, for my play.”