We came to Arizona to write a play about Mars. And it’s starting to shape up nicely. Our team is large, at least by CCdd’s standards. We have 6 cast members, 3 crew, 4 designers, about 5 design mentors, several collaborative scientists, a bunch of people working in the costume and set shops who I haven’t even met yet and 2 director/writers (that’s Katie and me). With our powers combined we are going to produce an intermediated, futuristic, Science-Fiction Play that follows some of the first people to inhabit the Red Planet.
Sci-Fi is sort of a new frontier for theatre, especially stories about Space Exploration. This probably has something to do with technology. But since we are now in the Information Age, I say it is time for a Sci-Fi revolution in theatre. I am so excited about this piece. I even get to act in it! Well…Sort of. I get to create the screen personality of a computer brain named Deimos(named after one of Mars’ moons) that interacts with our travelers along their adventure and provides important information to both the characters and the audience members. We are thinking of a futuristic flight attendant outfit for my costume (maybe like Britney wore in her Toxic music video!) and maybe this will even be an excuse for me to dye my hair purple! Fingers crossed that our Costume Designer likes my ideas.
We did NOT come to Arizona to write a play about Street Harassment, but the topic seems to be calling us. We were surprised and touched by the response from Katie’s recent blog post about the harassment we’ve been subject to on Mill Avenue. We received words of support not only from our friends and loved ones, but also from Professors and Administrators here at the University. The wonderful, progressive people at Arizona State University have become increasingly aware of Street Harassment as a problem here for their students. And thanks to recent movements like Hollaback a momentum is starting to build behind ending street harassment in America and Worldwide. By creating a theatrical piece about it we can add to this momentum. We proudly accept this call of duty as strong, female artists.
I have a confession to make. I have never been the girl that hollers back. Like most girls, I have been taught my whole life that when presented with conflict I should stay quiet, be patient and kill them with kindness. Last weekend after one of about 5 instances of harassment that happened that day I felt terrible, powerless. Katie asked me why I didn’t say anything back to the group of boys. Was I afraid? It was daylight and there were plenty of people around. I guess I was scared. But maybe I was more afraid of getting into a conversation with these creeps and having that unpleasant interaction with them more than I was afraid for my actual safety. If I ignore them and walk on, then I don’t have to deal with it. But I am starting to think this is bigger than me; I think I am being called upon by the universe to address this problem through my art and in my daily life.
So street harassers be warned. If I’m in a public place, and it’s daylight, and I hear you harassing me or any other sister, I am going to walk right up to you and say “Why did you do that? Don’t you know it makes women uncomfortable, scared and makes you seem like a creep? You need to stop.”