Students to Attend Required “SLUT: The Play” on Friday

Students and faculty are required to attend “SLUT: The Play,” a two-hour-long program that covers sexual harassment and assault, on Friday. The show investigates a rape culture that has been identified on school campuses across the country. It will be followed by a panel discussion with the director and actors.

“SLUT: The Play,” written by Katie Cappiello, was inspired by the real experiences of high school students. Developed by the award-winning program, The Arts Effect, and featuring high-school actresses, “SLUT: The Play” opened in 2013.

According to the official website, “the play follows the journey of 16-year-old Joanna Del Marco, who is assaulted by three friends during a night out in NYC, and highlights the damaging impact of rape culture on the lives of young people and the importance of being heard.”

“Sexual assault is such a problem in today’s world and that won’t go away without education and awareness.”

Senior Ruby Fludzinski first suggested the showing of the play here on campus after seeing the performance earlier this year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She remembered being in awe of the performance on all levels.

“[‘SLUT: The Play’] was so truthful, so raw, compelling, courageous, powerful, engaging, challenging and stuck with me on a very personal level,” Fludzinksi said.

At first, the momentum for bringing the performance to campus was slow, as Fludzinski described, and it took many months to convince faculty that the project was worth school funding. However, once health instructors Christine Bradley and Elizabeth Hurley as well as Dean of Academic Affairs Karen Geary saw the play, they understood how impactful the performance and its message could be for the Academy.

Geary did the majority of coordinating and planning for the event. She viewed this opportunity as a way of continuing conversations that began in the fall around Exeter culture, issues of consent and sexual assault. “The more we thought about the impact it could have, the more it seemed to make sense to create an opportunity for a broader, campus-wide event—a common experience that we could process and discuss together,” she said.

Geary described the process as complicated, especially because the Assembly Hall is not equipped to be a theater. However, all of the deans agreed that the play should be a required appointment.

In order to accommodate the entire school, the deans created two showings. Preps and lowers are required to attend at 10:50 a.m. while uppers and seniors must attend at 7 p.m. after classes. Students who are out of town on Friday will watch a video recording of the performance on Monday.

Senior Heather Nelson, who has been involved in a school-wide discussion on sexual assault this school year, offered her opinion on the performance. Although she recalled hearing several seniors complain about how the play is scheduled on a Friday night, she explained that “it’s supposed to be so good, and it will be something that this whole school should see and will get a lot out of.”

She also commended the administration for taking the time to inform Exeter students about sexual assault and sexual harassment.

Students have already discussed “SLUT: The Play” amongst themselves because of the name of the show. Nelson acknowledged that the title may cause discomfort, but she also expected that conversations about the play will last a while and make a difference.

“I know that some have seemed a little put off by the name of the play, as it is a little crass and could give someone who didn’t read the description of the show a wrong impression of it,” Nelson said.

She also hoped that Exonians will take the event seriously and leave with a greater understanding of sexual misconduct.

“[Sexual assault] is such a problem in today’s world and that won’t go away without education and awareness,” Nelson said.

Last year, the school hosted Sex Signals, an improv-based program presented by Catharsis Productions. Unlike the adult-run show, “SLUT: The Play” involved teenage girls who helped create the themes and topics in the script.

“It’ll come from the heart and although I’ve never seen it, Ruby [Fludzinski] has only said amazing things. No student at this school is more passionate about theater and awareness than she is, so I trust that this play will be more than well worth everyone’s time, during the play and as well as during the conversations after the play,” Nelson said.

Fludzinski defined “SLUT: The Play” as a “necessary, powerful and truthful” protest. She believed that the play has the potential to make a big change on campus and that it will speak for itself.

“I hope the play forces people to question their victim blaming, their slut shaming and their skewed definitions of consent,” she said. “I hope it forces the administration and faculty to take student-to-student sexual assaults with the full seriousness they deserve.”