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WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID
By Sarah Treem
Dramaturgy by Meghan McGehee
Playwright Biography
Sarah Treem was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1980. However, she lived many places growing up, including New Hampshire, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Connecticut, and North Carolina. Treem considers New Haven, Connecticut to be her hometown.
Treem says she has been writing as long as she can remember. She began writing poetry from a very young age. She describes herself as “a mimic,” and says that she enjoyed writing stories in the voice of other authors such as Shel Silverstein or Dr. Seuss. Her grandmother lived in New York, and when Treem would visit her they would go to the theatre. She remembers seeing The Crucible at the age of nine. Treem wrote her first play at age twelve, and it won a young playwrights contest. “I took it to signify that I had found my calling,” said Treem. She continued to write throughout high school and then got her B.A. from Branford College at Yale University in 2002. Treem then went on to receive her Master’s from the Yale School of Drama in 2005.
Despite her current success, Treem has struggled to get her plays off their feet in the past. Her first play, A Feminine Ending, was so ridiculed by The New York Times that she felt like her career was over. When Treem asked producers how she could sustain a career in theatre, she was told, “Stop writing about women. If you want to be successful, stop writing about women. Stop writing about female issues.” However, Treem stuck to her morals and continued to write the stories she felt needed to be told.
When We Were Young and Unafraid focuses on issues of women’s rights, domestic violence, and abortion. Treem herself has spoken out about her experience with an abusive relationship and having an abortion. Shortly after escaping an abusive relationship, Treem woke up one day in what she describes as “excruciating pain.” After going to the ER, she was told that she had developed ovarian torsion as the result of pregnancy. Ovarian torsion occurs when they ovary wraps around its stalk, resulting in loss of blood flow. Without surgery, this can cause the ovary to die, possibly resulting in infertility. On top of this, Treem was told that the fetus was not viable. Treem had to make the decision to have an abortion. Of her experience, Treem says, “Anyone who claims a woman would carelessly or recklessly have an abortion has never actually had an abortion. Years later, I can still see details of the room clearly. I can still feel every step of the procedure. I can still conjure my immediate, acute grief. That said, I have never regretted the choice for a minute.” In 2017, Treem wrote an article for Variety Magazine in which she goes into detail about her choice to have an abortion. The full article can be read at the bottom of this page.
Treem now has two children, and balances being a mother with working as a writer and producer. Her best known works include The Affair (2014), In Treatment (2008) and House of Cards (2013). In 2019, she signed a multi-year deal with Fox 21 television studios. She is currently working on a limited series based on the life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr, which is set to star Gal Gadot. Treem has become an icon for telling the true story of life as a working mother, or “having it all.” Her brutally honest article for Redline, “The truth about being a working mother,” went viral in 2019. Read it here.
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