Sara Bruner (as Norma McCorvey) and Gina Daniels, with Jim Abele, background. (C. Stanley Photography)

Sarah Weddington, the attorney who argued successfully for a woman’s right to choose in Roe v Wade, finds herself in present-day America in Roe, the world premiere from Lisa Loomer opening at Arena Stage. She’s angry and tired, because she just can’t quite believe she’s fighting the same battle today that she’s argued since the case was made law in 1973.

There are millions worldwide who can relate, as this weekend’s marches demonstrated.

It’s more than timely that Roe premieres in D.C. just as the results of a contentious presidential election come to the forefront, and when women’s rights feel particularly vulnerable. Arena Stage knew to capitalize on these sentiments, launching a new initiative last fall to develop 25 new plays and musicals focused on politics and power over the next decade.

Roe predates this movement, but the political climate infuses the work with a different sense of urgency and fuels many of its viewers with indignant outrage, if audience reaction on press night can be believed.

The play puts a human face on a historic legal case, following both the life of attorney-turned-activist Weddington and, even more closely, the improbable story of Norma McCorvey, the reluctantly pregnant plaintiff who allowed the case to be brought to trial; she is, unsurprisingly to the audience but not to her, unable to secure an abortion before it reaches the Supreme Court, and how fully she understood her role as a symbolic figure rather is one of the many questions the play raises.

As act one draws to a close, it almost feels like the story could be over—abortion is the law of the land, and McCorvey has managed to make a life for herself with a loving partner. But Christian anti-abortion activists loom in the background, and act two demonstrates not only the hold they end up having over the easily influenced McCorvey, but the law itself as the case continues to be torn apart in lower courts.

Roe tries to deal in grays rather than in blacks and whites. It works painstakingly to make sure both sides of the issue are addressed, and does so most effectively with the character of Roxanne (Kenya Alexander), a conflicted present-day woman finding herself nearly unable to have an abortion due to the growing hurdles, still conflicted about whether she should, and disinterested in the blanket philosophical statements each side provides in lieu of personal guidance. Alexander makes her case powerfully admit a sea of strong performances: Sarah Jane Agnew’s buttoned-up but sympathetic Sarah Weddington, Sara Bruner’s hurricane force of a Norma, and among the supporting players, Susan Lynskey, who steals scenes as Weddington’s socially awkward law clerk.

This is a powerful work, but not a perfect one. Its narrator-driven style of introducing characters can take on a sing-song quality, and some pieces of dialogue feel on-the-nose. But the moving — and often, gently funny — work is a timely emotional experience directed not at ideologues, but everyday people coming to terms with how tough issues impact actual human beings.

Roe runs through Feb. 19 at Arena Stage. Tickets ($65-$100) are available here.