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Grace Gratton
  • ASL - English Interpreting
  • Springfield, MO

Grace Gratton involved in theatre production at William Woods University

2015 Dec 29

Grace Gratton of Springfield, Missouri, (65804) was involved in the production of a devised theatre drama, "#YesAllWomen/#NotAllMen," at William Woods University.

Though it is not a "new" concept, devised theatre is the latest big thing in college theatre. Devised theatre starts with an idea, an image, a song, etc., around which a group researches, creates, rehearses and performs a piece.

The production centered around the Twitter feed #YesAllWomen, a discussion about sexual harassment, rape culture and the idea that culturally we accept as normal that women are not safe to walk the streets. #NotAllMen was a response to #YesAllWomen, and argues that not all men are the enemy and we need men as allies.

The hastags originated from an event in May, 2014, when a man in Isla Vista, California, killed six people and injured 14 others before committing suicide. The killer said he wanted to punish women for rejecting him.

A Twitter campaign ensued, speaking to the idea that #YesAllWomen experience gender inequality and fear sexually-motivated violence against them. Only four days after the attack, 1.2 million tweets were added to the hashtag, almost all of them from women relating stories about what they face every day. The hashtag #NotAllMen was an effort to keep the conversation neutral toward men in general.

"YesAllWomen #NotAllMen was a chance for us to be challenged to think about the very serious social issues regarding women and men we face and ally ourselves to positive solutions," Joe Potter, artistic director of theatre, said. "Theatre has always been a platform for social change and this script will give our students a creative way to have their voices heard."