Endometriosis musical set for Edinburgh Fringe stage

An endometriosis musical by two US writers will debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.

“Endometriosis: The Musical” follows Jane, a woman trying to discover why she is living with chronic pain.

Maria Bartholdi and Kristin Stowell first developed the production for the 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival.

The full show premiered at Theater in the Round in Minneapolis in 2025.

Stowell said the play drew on personal experience, although neither writer realised it at the time.

“So it’s like my goal to let women see themselves in this who are dealing with this and have a question they can bring back to their doctor,” she said.

“Like, could it be endometriosis?”

Bartholdi said she did not realise she might have the condition herself until after the play premiered.

“This show helped diagnose me, which I think is just one of the miraculous things that we hope this the show does for other people as well,” Bartholdi said.

Dr Wendy VanBuren, a radiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, said she was a fan of the musical and its role in raising awareness of a common but underdiagnosed disease.

“Cells that are similar to but not identical to the cells that comprise the lining of the uterus, the inside of the uterus, are located outside the uterus,” said VanBuren.

“When they’re outside the uterus, there isn’t the right environment to deal with that. So basically, what you get is bleeding, and then you get inflammation.”

Roughly one in seven women live with the disease, and receiving a diagnosis can take nearly a decade.

The post Endometriosis musical set for Edinburgh Fringe stage appeared first on FemTech World.