![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/predictor-1-249164-njicb30t-671314-bcMiuiK1.jpg\")
<\/a>Crane was only officially recognized as the inventor of the home pregnancy test in 2012 when she spoke up after a New York Times article about such tests failed to mention her. Now her original prototype design of Predictor sits in the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of American History.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer Blackmer tells Crane\u2019s story in her play \u201cPredictor,\u201d but not as a dry biography or historical account. The Garage Theatre<\/a>, which is currently staging the play, instead describes it as an \u201cabsurdist comic romp\u201d that moves fluidly through the past, present and future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe take you through the complexities of Meg\u2019s mind as she contemplates a simple patent application, ultimately setting the historical record straight while revealing the tenacity and sacrifice it takes to change the world,\u201d the theater says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to UC Irvine drama grad Carly Tilson-Lumetta playing Meg Crane, a \u201cchorus\u201d of six other actors \u2014 including Garage Theatre co-founder Matt Anderson \u2014 bring to life Blackmer\u2019s play, directed by Jessica Variz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe story is so beautiful and powerful in and of itself, but the way in which it’s told is so theatrical and fun,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThe audience gets to experience and feel the highs and lows, and everything in between. The show is all heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anderson credits director Variz\u2019s \u201cclear vision and direction\u201d for bringing out the best in the cast and crew for each performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Variz says she was at first hesitant when the theater asked her to direct this play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had never heard of Meg Crane, and my first instinct was to say \u2018no,\u2019\u201d Variz says, adding that she had not worked with the theater for a while and was not sure she could do it \u2014 until she read the play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMeg\u2019s story demanded telling and Jennifer Blackmer\u2019s weird and wonderful script reminded me of all the things I loved most \u2014 and missed most \u2014 about theater,\u201d Variz says. \u201cAt a time when every odd was stacked against her, Meg said \u2018yes\u2019 to curiosity, to creativity, to love and finally to the sacrifice that would ultimately erase her name from history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Variz also met with Crane last spring in New York, sitting in \u201cawe\u201d of her while being further inspired to direct the play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe spent more time talking about the present than the past, recognizing the battles that we thought long won \u2014 for choice, for privacy, for bodily autonomy \u2014 were being waged again and against the same insidious forces,\u201d Variz recalls. \u201cMeg reminded me that Predictor wasn\u2019t just about pregnancy, but about power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s because part of Crane\u2019s battle was convincing male-dominated pharmaceutical and medical industries during sexist and even misogynistic times, which some find continue today, that women should be able to test their own bodies for what\u2019s happening to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Crane\u2019s character says in the play, she\u2019s \u201cReady to set the record straight, ready to ask for my due and claim my space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>