SLUT:
The Play
She wanted it. Did she say “No”? She was drunk and out of control. She deserved it– did you see what she was wearing? The guys wouldn’t need to force her. Why did she have condoms in her bag? She prides herself on being a slut.
One Friday night, 16-year-old Joey Del Marco parties with three of her best guy friends…and her world comes tumbling down. In a culture where silence, judgement, and slut shaming allow sexual violence to thrive, will Joey find support and justice? When past choices and actions are used against her, will her voice be heard? How will one night forever change not just Joey, but her whole community?
See full play credits, director’s note, and bios in the original playbill from performances in 2013.
HUGE THANK YOU TO:
The original Technical Design team:
Niki Armato, Lauren Bremen, Jeremi Chenier, Gemma Kaneko, Grant McDonald, and Daniel Melnick
All the amazing organizations and individuals who dedicated continuous time, passion, resources, advise and encouragement at every turn. SLUT would not be what it is today without:
Yasmeen Hasan and Equality Now, Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia, Jeremy Bloom and Evenstar Films, Jennifer Baumgardner and The Feminist Press, Claudia Bestor and the Hammer Museum, Scott Yoselow and the Gersh Agency, Elena Holy and The New York International Fringe Festival, La Shonda Coleman and her team at the Rape Treatment Center at Santa Monica UCLA, Savannah Badalich, Maria Bello, Amanda de Cadenet, Michelle Czarnik, Torrey DeVitto, Nikki Donen, Josh Donen, Bethany Joy Lenz, Lauren Hersh, Mary and Matt McCoy, Hans and Kate Morris, Kathy Najimy, Amy Richards, Smalley-Wall Family, Gloria Steinem, Karen Stoker, Leora Tanenbaum, and Daphne Zuniga.
North Dakota State University, Rebecca Meyer-Larson and staff and students at Moorhead High School, Mark Weiler and Ecce Art Gallery, and Kent Kolstad and Livewire Entertainment.
Original Cast Members Include:
Brittany Adebumola
Marcela Barry
Winnifred Bonjean-Alpart
Zora Casebere
Danielle Cohen
Willa Cuthrell
Bella Danieli
Vikki Eugenis
Samia Finnerty
Stella Fitzgerald
Clare Frucht
Lexa Krebs
Amari Rose Leigh
Diana Machado
Mary Miller
Olivia Murray
Nia Nation
Jasmine Niang
Madison Nichols
Casey Odesser
Katie Prael
Eliza Price
Kara Raiteri
Darci Siegel
Alice Stewart
Our Journey….
NY International Fringe Festival
In August 2013, SLUT: The Play premiered at The Lynn Redgrave Theatre and The Players Theatre in NYC as part of The NY International Fringe Festival and Encore Series. Huge shout out and THANK YOU to Fringe for creating spaces for even the youngest artists to share their stories, and Evenstar Films. Nothing would have been possible without Evenstar Films, Elizabeth Cuthrell and David Urrutia, believing in the power of SLUT from the very beginning.
SLUT Goes National
Partnering with The Smalley-Wall Family, Karen Stoker, Jennifer Baumgardner and The Feminist Press, Yasmeen Hassan and Equality Now, and Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia, and Evenstar Films, we were able to bring SLUT: The Play to communities across the country performing at the Hammer Museum in CA, North Dakota State University and The Ecce Art Gallery in ND, and The Gym @ Judson in NYC. Every performance in every single city sold out!
SLUT in Boston & D.C.
Our team hit the road again traveling to M.I.T in Boston, MA and then to the famous Warner Theatre in Washington, DC. In D.C. we were joined by powerhouse game-changers Beau Willimon (creator of House of Cards) Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), actor Michael Kelly, Editor-in-Chief of Glamour Magazine, Cindi Leive, Executive Director of the DC Rape Crisis Center, Sherelle Hessell Gordon, and Executive Director of the Feminist Press, Jennifer Baumgardner….along with our largest audience to date - 900 students from across the DC metro area.
Click the link above for more details on our D.C. performance and trip to the White House!
SLUT in NYC
Our longest run of SLUT: The Play was in 2016 in New York City at Dixon Place. Performing for thousands of audience members over the course of 2 months, the cast and crew worked tirelessly to share these stories and spark important conversations during talk-backs after each and every performance.
SLUT in Schools
In 2016, we had the opportunity to perform SLUT: The Play at the following boarding schools: Phillips Academy-Andover in MA and Phillips Exeter Academy and St. Paul’s in New Hampshire where performance attendance and discussions were mandatory for their students. We thank these schools for their leadership and for not shying away from these challenging yet critical topics and conversations.
Talks at Google
In March 2015, The Arts Effect was honored to have an opportunity to perform and engage in challenging conversations with ADULTS this time as part of Google’s Talks at Google. Cast members from SLUT: The Play and contributors to SLUT: A Play and Guidebook for Combatting Sexism and Sexual Violence joined actor Emily Mortimer (The News Room, Mary Poppins Returns) for a panel discussion about sexual assault and slut shamming.
Click the link above to see the full performance and panel discussion!
StopSlut Movement
The demand for SLUT: The Play was clear. Our partnership with Jennifer Baumgardner and The Feminist Press forever changed the course of our journey as we developed StopSlut - a movement to transform rape culture through youth-led activism .
Click the link above for more info.
SLUT the Play and Guidebook
Thank you to The Feminist Press for believing in our work from the very beginning and to all the incredible contributors who added thought provoking pieces to this book.
Click the link above for more details and purchasing options.
Want to perform SLUT: The Play in your school or community?
Reach out for more details today!
