2008 Woodie Awards
Students discuss, attend trials, performances
Mia Walters
Issue date: 9/26/08 Section: The News
Shouts rang out in the darkness of Mason Hall Auditorium: "It wasn't my fault," "He raped my baby" and "Laughter is for free people," as the Women's Center shed some light on the impact of rape Wednesday.
About 80 students and staff gathered in the stadium-style auditorium for the annual reader's theatre performance "Are you Afraid of the Dark?" a component of Be Safe week.
With black sheets over the windows and various lamps situated around the auditorium floor, the only other light came from the red glow of the exit signs.
"This is your opportunity to really be sensitized to the reality of rape," Jane Etheridge, director of the Women's Center, said in the introduction. "This is a series of powerful monologues, each expressing different perspectives of rape and sexual assault, how healing from victimization is possible and how education can change attitudes and behavior."
What followed were monologues performed by actors in all black clothing, sitting around the auditorium floor next to the lamps. When it came time for their monologue, they switched on their lamp.
"Sex and violence are two words that do not belong in the same sentence," narrator Rebbie Edmonds, senior from Garfield, Ky., said at the opening.
The first performance alternated between a man and a woman describing their different points of view of their evening together.
There was also a monologue about child sexual abuse, a male victim of rape, a mother whose daughter was raped, the father of the accused boy, a fraternity member who sees his friend become a victim by one of his brothers, a rape victim talking to his or her rapist, a man realizing that he raped someone and a rape victim discussing how she "learned things the hard way." There was also a monologue that reappeared several times about a stalking victim.
Kimberly Rose, junior from Hardinsburg, Ky., sat in the second row during the performance.
"I've never experienced anything like that personally, but I have several people around me who have," she said. "To see all that come at you full force, with such power and meaning, and from so many different perspectives, it really just grabs you."
A cornerstone of BE?SAFE week is awareness, which Rose said she thought was evident in the performance.
"Awareness is the key to solving this problem," she said. "Awareness from men, awareness from women, awareness from the rapists and awareness from the victims. From all sides, in every possible way, awareness is it."
"Are You Afraid of the Dark?" was one of several parts of BE SAFE Week.
Other events from the week included a mock rape trial, a film and discussion, the Think RED, Go Green project, a candlelight vigil and the Clothesline Project opening ceremony.
All events were sponsored by the Murray State Women's Center.
Mia Walters can be reached at mia.walters@murraystate.edu.
About 80 students and staff gathered in the stadium-style auditorium for the annual reader's theatre performance "Are you Afraid of the Dark?" a component of Be Safe week.
With black sheets over the windows and various lamps situated around the auditorium floor, the only other light came from the red glow of the exit signs.
"This is your opportunity to really be sensitized to the reality of rape," Jane Etheridge, director of the Women's Center, said in the introduction. "This is a series of powerful monologues, each expressing different perspectives of rape and sexual assault, how healing from victimization is possible and how education can change attitudes and behavior."
What followed were monologues performed by actors in all black clothing, sitting around the auditorium floor next to the lamps. When it came time for their monologue, they switched on their lamp.
"Sex and violence are two words that do not belong in the same sentence," narrator Rebbie Edmonds, senior from Garfield, Ky., said at the opening.
The first performance alternated between a man and a woman describing their different points of view of their evening together.
There was also a monologue about child sexual abuse, a male victim of rape, a mother whose daughter was raped, the father of the accused boy, a fraternity member who sees his friend become a victim by one of his brothers, a rape victim talking to his or her rapist, a man realizing that he raped someone and a rape victim discussing how she "learned things the hard way." There was also a monologue that reappeared several times about a stalking victim.
Kimberly Rose, junior from Hardinsburg, Ky., sat in the second row during the performance.
"I've never experienced anything like that personally, but I have several people around me who have," she said. "To see all that come at you full force, with such power and meaning, and from so many different perspectives, it really just grabs you."
A cornerstone of BE?SAFE week is awareness, which Rose said she thought was evident in the performance.
"Awareness is the key to solving this problem," she said. "Awareness from men, awareness from women, awareness from the rapists and awareness from the victims. From all sides, in every possible way, awareness is it."
"Are You Afraid of the Dark?" was one of several parts of BE SAFE Week.
Other events from the week included a mock rape trial, a film and discussion, the Think RED, Go Green project, a candlelight vigil and the Clothesline Project opening ceremony.
All events were sponsored by the Murray State Women's Center.
Mia Walters can be reached at mia.walters@murraystate.edu.
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