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Voices Theater Project play will give voices to victims of sexual violence, raise funds for Rape Crisis Center

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I am not a model survivor, she said. 

“I’m someone that may not be believed because I’m a black woman and because I’m not successful. I don’t look a certain way. And I talk a certain way.”

This is a description of Han, Dana Pellebon’s character in the P***y Grabber Plays, a reading from seven women who were sexually assaulted by Donald Trump. 

The play, produced by Voices Theater Project, will serve as the the only fundraiser for Madison’s Rape Crisis Center this year and it will air at Friday, May 15, at 9 p.m. at voicestheatre.com.

Pellebon told Madison365 that the play educates the audience that survivors respond in different ways to trauma and sometimes don’t remember details correctly, recant their statements or don’t report at all.

“Who are you to decide what that person’s response is and what their survival instinct is and how it is that they get through that moment?” Pellebon asked rhetorically. “We have created a narrative around survivors and what are considered model survivors and what are considered people that are okay to challenge what happened to them.” 

Although all the fundraising events the Rape Crisis Center puts on in April for Sexual Assault Awareness Month had to be canceled due to COVID-19, this fundraiser fits the vision of RCC to support survivors of sexual violence, Nikko Murphy, another actress in the play, told Madison365.

“Those conversations are not often welcome in social circles so it’s not easy to broach that conversation, especially when it’s not very well received,” Murphy said. “I think the Rape Crisis Center is a perfect example of an environment for women to be able to come to and be able to unload all of that and it does it in a safe environment where they also are feeling protected by the information that they’re sharing.”

The Rape Crisis Center started in 1973 and is the second oldest rape crisis center in the nation. In 2018, it provided more than 7,000 hours of helpline coverage and made 600 visits to emergency rooms, police stations, and courtrooms to provide support for survivors of sexual violence. Since the Safer At Home orders went into place mid-March the RCC has seen an increase in call volume to their 24-hour hotline, according to a Channel3000 article.

Murphy and Pellebon said the play brings awareness to the current narratives associated with sexual violence. 

“We are so concerned about the truthfulness of women that we never ever focused on what’s happening with the perpetrators. Never. Not once. Nobody has come to that man and said, so why did you say this? Why did you feel empowered? Why did you feel empowered to grab her by the p***y?” Pellebon said. 

This play is produced and directed by Meghan Randolph. Featuring performances by Kassy Coleman, Jamie England, Ana Gonzalez, Dan Jajewski, Erin McConnell,  Dan Jajewski, Kate Mann, Nikko Murphy, Abby Nichols, Dana Pellebon, Bryanna Plaisir, Meghan Randolph, Hannah Ripp-Dieter, Amanda Rodriguez, Samantha Sostarich, Kathy Lynn Sliter, Sarah Streich, Carrie Sweet, Marcy Weiland, Jessica Jane Witham and Sarah Whelan. 

Murphy noted that the P***y Grabber Plays is meant to give voice to the victims.

“I feel like this definitely gives a voice from the victim’s perspective, we always hear from a males perspective and from law enforcement and from your family and your friends. And it really gives some insight into the process of going through a situation, having to explain it and then just having to sit with it,” Murphy said.  

In the play, Han has an open dialogue with “someone,” played by Murphy. Murphy, a Child Support Paternity Investigator at the Dane County Child Support Agency, said this play brings unwelcomed topics to the forefront of the stage like victim-blaming, rape and p***y grabbing.

She said her character has a dialogue with Han which reflects the often inner monologue, and repetitive questions survivors battle in their minds such as “how’s this gonna affect my family, what is it gonna do as far as my day to day life and then what happens if I run into my abuser again?”

“How do you go about doing it? Who do you tell? You know, there are a lot of stigmas that are automatically attached once you are labeled a victim and it makes it that much more difficult (to report),” Murphy said. “It’s like wearing your red Scarlet letter A — so now everyone knows what was supposed to be a private situation.” 

Pellebon who is Senior Director of Client Services for the Rape Crisis Center, said this play is meant to educate people on the realities of sexual violence and how avoiding the topic is unproductive. 

“The way that the conversation changes is by talking about it and by shedding light upon these stories and by putting faces to these stories,” Pellebon said. “And getting these stories out there, which is why it’s so important that this play be done. Because people need to hear these stories. People need to hear the word rape and not be like, ‘Oh, could you not say that?’ No, actually we are going to say rape and we are going to say he grabbed me by the p***y because that’s what he did.”

This play is written by Julia Brownell, Sam Chanse, Halley Feiffer, Sharon Kenny, Melissa Li, Sharyn Rothstein, Natasha Stoynoff, Bess Wohl, and Anna Ziegler. And based on the bravery of Rachel Crooks, Tasha Dixon, Jill Harth, Samantha Holvey, Jessica Leeds, Natasha Stoynoff, and Karena Virginia.

Pellebon said she hopes that after watching this play and donating to the Rape Crisis Center, audience members will get a glimpse of the realities of what happens to survivors. 

“Out of every 1,000 rapes reported only 4.6 people spend any time in jail,” Pellebon said. “And people really don’t understand that. That’s the reality that we all are working through at this, you know, we don’t have choices. We don’t have protections. And our protection now is our voice and getting as many people that we can get to hear what it is that is actually happening.”