"Step 1: Research In order to acquire a sophisticated understanding of sex slavery and the effects it has on its victims, we will conduct in-depth research with support from local leaders in the anti-trafficking movement such as My Life My Choice, Rhode Island Coalition Against Human Trafficking and Day One. We also plan to meet with survivors of CSE to gain an understanding of the personal consequences of sex slavery, which will enable us to tell their stories. Step 2: Training Telling the complex story of commercial sexual exploitation will require great care and capability. To build our skills, we will participate in a workshop with Double Edge Theatre, a company renowned for its wildly imaginative devised theatre pieces, its unique rehearsal process and its emphasis on rigorous training. From our experience with Double Edge, we hope to harness their expertise and to sharpen our own storytelling skills for this project. Step 3: Development Research and training in hand, we will develop an original theatre piece about Commercial Sexual Exploitation. Each rehearsal will be spent generating material through improvisation. Then, we will choose material to be stitched into a complete performance. In April, we will stage a preliminary version of our piece to be work-shopped with our colleagues from the theatre community as well as organizations combating human trafficking. We will then spend three weeks rehearsing and refining our piece to incorporate their feedback. Step 4: Realization Finally, we will perform our piece for students at local high schools. There will be a preparatory class on human trafficking for the teachers to offer their students, as well as a follow-up in-class discussion with the Abolition Project cast. The experience will not end with the performance and discussion. We plan to host a series of summer theatre workshops with interested students, in which they will be taught the improvisational techniques we used in our process, with the goal of helping them create their own short pieces about modern-day slavery."
- OUR PROCESS
