Women’s Center play focuses on violence against women
Members of the University of Idaho community gathered over the weekend to celebrate V-Day — a day observing violence against women and girls — by viewing a play put on by UI’s Women’s Center about nine female inmates who speak up about acts of violence they faced.
Nathan Romans | Argonaut
Courtney Kersten performs during “Any One of Us: Words from Prison” presented by the University of Idaho Women’s Center Friday in the International Ballroom in the Bruce Pitman Center, formerly the Student Union Building.
The play, “Any One of Us: Words from Prison,” drew in hundreds of audience members Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.
In the International Ballroom in the Bruce Pitman Center, formerly the Student Union Building, a projector screened pictures of the play’s actresses with quotes that said, “Embrace our humanity, embrace YOUR humanity,” and “Listen to our stories.” Before the play began, different styles of shoes were placed in a line underneath the stage.
To start the show, Director of the Women’s Center Lysa Salsbury and Assistant Director of Programs for the Women’s Center Bekah MillerMacPhee welcomed the audience. They also announced the 2015 V-Day Warriors, which are local women who embodied the essence of equality and empowerment and whose contributions helped address violence against women on campus and in the Moscow community.
The 2015 warriors included Associate Director for Human Rights, Access and Inclusion Erin Agidius, Any One of Us cast member Erin Simmons and ASUI Director of Safety and Violence Prevention Sara Spritzer.
Salsbury and MillerMacPhee warned the audience about the graphic nature of the play’s content. They offered the audience the option of leaving the room to take in what happened on stage if they felt uncomfortable and said two counselors from the UI Counseling and Testing Center were at the event if an audience member needed to talk to someone about the content discussed.
With the lights dimmed, the two women walked off stage to have their places taken by the nine actresses, dressed in orange.
Nathan Romans | Argonaut
Aimee Briscoe performs “Bad Men” during “Any One of Us: Words from Prison” presented by the University of Idaho Women’s Center Friday in the International Ballroom in the Bruce Pitman Center, formerly the Student Union Building.
The nine women walked across the stage in a line, sitting down when they stood above the pairs of shoes left underneath the stage.
Throughout the show, the women described their encounters with violence and how they came about coping with it.
No story was the same, but each one shared the same element of violence. Many of the stories covered the personal accounts of domestic violence, rape and mental and emotional abuse.
The two pieces from women in Latah County were titled “I Am Who I Am,” performed by Amaya Amigo and “Car Crash,” shared by Sherry Jensen.
The last scene performed was titled “Any One of Us.”
Before the scene began, all of the women took off their orange jumpsuits to reveal the dress clothes they wore underneath. After putting on the shoes that were waiting for them all night, the women walked onto the stage and stood unified in a line.
“(Any one of us) can begin where there is no beginning,” the women said. “(They) can be that forgotten, discarded, determined other … Can be held back, held under, held down — can end up here.”
Emily Mosset can be reached at [email protected]