In Sexual Assault Awareness Month, ‘Our Voices’ Creates Physical Space for Reflection

For Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, the Women In Power Conference, Harvard Wears Denim, and Yoga for Restoration are just a few of the events the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention & Response will lead. Bringing these efforts to the artistic realm, OSAPR and the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club will collaboratively present “Our Voices,” opening April 5. In its fourth iteration, “Our Voices” is a student-directed project with the goal of sharing stories of sexual assault and identity-based violence.

The show has taken place in April annually since 2016. As one of a number of initiatives related to sexual assault, the show offers a chance to deal with issues of violence through engagement of personal narrative. “It’s a way to work through what’s both personal and political,” Madeleine R. Snow ’20, one of the show’s two producers, said.

In order to facilitate that work, the performance creates a physical space for sharing and reflection. Co-director Rachel M. Kahn ’20 opted for an informal setup in Leverett Library Theater. Audience members will be able to walk around the the venue and look at visual art submissions, and performers will sit on the stage and assist with the stage management of each others’ performances, blurring the line between various production roles to make the space more comfortable for those involved.

“People can share and go through whatever spectrum of emotions they are processing and have it be contained in that room,” Kahn said. “They can express themselves and get anything out that they want to get out, and leave it. Hopefully that experience is in some way helpful or cathartic.”

Co-directors Kahn and Carla Troconis ’19 solicited submissions of original art relating to sexual assault and other forms of identity-based violence. In contrast to more traditional shows, rehearsals focus on what performers need to “make the performance and the space as useful and as comfortable for them as possible,” Kahn said.

Snow said the show offers to all members of the audience a chance to reflect and expand their worldviews.

“Even if you haven’t experienced sexual assault or identity-based violences, by listening to other people’s stories and seeing them in all sorts of artistic expressions, you can get a better understanding of someone else’s lived experience,” Snow said.

Since its conception in 2016, the show has changed to explore other issues that are related to sexual assault by broadening the form that submissions can take. “They can be things that address mental health issues and issues of identity-based violence,” stage manager Robert F. Malley ’20 said. “It has expanded the space and given more opportunities for more performers, more performances, more reflection by the audience, more opportunities for the directors to think about how all of these issues are interconnected.”

“Our Voices” will run April 5 and 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Leverett Library Theater.