So, some very cool things are happening with this initiative: More playwrights are sending me work to share, and several theatre artists/theatre companies are organizing readings in theatrical protest. We are SO excited to be facilitating this opportunity for artists to make their objections to Trump’s impending inauguration known! We may not be able to stop the train from going off the rails, but we can join forces, speak up, and hopefully take positive action towards bolstering the institutions we believe will be very busy fighting reckless policy changes under the incoming president: The ACLU, NRDC, and Planned Parenthood (these are just a few of the terrific organizations that will be working hard to protect our civil liberties, planet, and reproductive health).
With that, I’d like to introduce you all to our first non-ONSTAGE playwright, Raegan Payne – although after reading her play, Appropriate, I seriously hope she participates in this year’s ONSTAGE Fest, because I absolutely love her writing!
Appropriate speaks to the ludicrous policing of young women’s bodies by school administrations who seem to believe it’s okay to perpetuate the myth that it’s a girl’s/woman’s fault if a boy/man thinks naughty thoughts/assaults her. The school may think it’s shaming young girls for “inappropriate” dress in order to keep her safe, but really they’re just enforcing dangerous messaging to both girls and boys that women are objects and men guileless users of said feminine objects. It makes my blood boil, and apparently it makes Raegan’s blood boil too. Check out her play below, and then find out how you can get involved in the We’re Not Playing Initiative!
A few words about Appropriate from playwright Raegan Payne:
I wrote Appropriate after reading about the Lord Grey School dress code incident in England where 70 girls were sent home for inappropriate attire in one day. No boys were sent home. Dress codes in schools often promote sexism by reinforcing the idea that women are responsible for a man’s behavior and that a woman’s body is shameful. The dress codes are unduly harsh and restrictive of girls, which impedes their ability to learn. I had read one too many disturbing and harmful dress code cases, so I put pen to paper.
More about Raegan:
Raegan is an award-winning, published playwright, who is happy to say her work is regularly produced around the US. This year, the Theatre Republic in Lagos, Nigeria will perform a series of her plays entitled “A Season of Payne.” Her scripts are sold in the US and UK.
Read more plays in the We’re Not Playing Initiative HERE.
