As part of their Master’s of Fine Arts program, ten graduate students undertook an intensive 3-quarter outreach and engagement training, designed to equip theatre artists with the skills to collaborate with community organizations. Students undertook internships at Turning Point, where they facilitated expressive arts workshops with the residents and their families. From these shared stories and moments, they developed a new work for performance, giving voice to the diverse experiences of men, women and children who have experienced domestic violence.
Characters for the play were composites drawn from the students’ experiences with Turning Point clients and from what they learned about victims from working with Turning Point staff. They are representative of the cross-section of society affected by domestic violence – all socio-economic, education and gender mixes. The students said that they wanted to “honor” the many victims of domestic violence and their children. They wanted to have the audience understand that they have the power to stop domestic violence and promote a violence-free society.
Before and after each performance, domestic violence advocates were available to answer questions from theatre goers. Local agencies had displays in the lobby of the theater and Turning Point’s segment of the National Clothesline Project was displayed.
