Students hope to shed light on culture that treats women as objects

A College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University student group is presenting a forum that aims to shed light on a culture that treats women and girls as objects.

Reflection Action Dialogue (RAD) will present the forum at 6:15 p.m. Monday, Feb. 19, at room 204, Gorecki Center, CSB. The event is free and open to the public.

The forum begins with 10 students giving a performance called “Silencing Sally” that they developed in their Theater of the Oppressed class. The performance, based on the lived experience of the group members, follows the life of Sally Walker (played by CSB senior Ella Grote) from a young girl through her time as a college student.

The performance highlights the sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle gestures, words and sounds that Sally experiences through life which continually objectify her as a woman.

Following the sequence of scenes, audience members will be asked to reflect on and discuss with one another what they saw and felt watching the performance. After this period of reflection and dialogue, audience members are invited to enter the performance in an attempt to change the outcome.

For example, an audience member might have an idea or proposal for how one might change the outcome of a scene in which a male student whistles at Sally during a sports practice, and the coach says nothing. The audience member will be invited into the scene and try out their idea or proposal for changing the scene.

The idea is that by trying out and practicing these interventions together, the audience will be inspired to leave the event and begin to bring about change they would like to see in their own communities.

This is the second time “Silencing Sally” will be presented on campus this academic year, following a performance in November.

RAD is supported by METOCA (Multiplication y Exploración del Teatro del Oprimido en Centroámerica), faculty members Laura Taylor (theology) and Roy Ketchum (Hispanic Studies, currently director of the Guatemala study abroad program); Danielle Taylor (assistant director of the Guatemala study abroad program); and the Center for Global Education.

“The students hope that the audience will be able to gain a deeper understanding of how our words are linked to our actions,” Laura Taylor said. “In addition, they want to encourage us to pause and reconsider how our words and actions affect the lives of others.

“If we normalize demeaning language, we take the first step in being complacent with the mistreatments of others,” Taylor added.

The seed for RAD was planted in the Guatemala study abroad program in spring 2015. While in Guatemala, 16 students participated in a course centered around an interactive performance style known as Theater of the Oppressed

Theater of the Oppressed challenges participants to shape the outcome of the production through conversation and engagement, according to a CSB/SJU online story by Maria Knudsen ’17. After performing in Guatemala, the students were inspired to bring their work back for performances at both CSB and SJU.