Thanks to the interACT troupe of CSULB, many members of the audience left the Burnight Centre Theatre with awareness about some social issues that affect the college community.
On Thursday April 14, InterACT, a social justice performance troupe from CSULB, performed a proactive improv show that not only had audience members up on stage, but brought up sexual assault issues.
Associate Dean of Student Health Services Dr. Hilary Menella worked with ASCC to get the troupe to perform on campus so that students get an understanding of what to do in a real life situation.
“Students go to parties and joke around with each other and have relationship issues[…] It’s good to put students in a real-life situation about how they would intervene and ask them their thoughts,” said Menella
Grabbing the audience and putting them in a real life situation is exactly what the troupe did with its show.
The performance consisted of a group of young adults, two of whom were in a relationship together, that helped the audience understand the process of how to spots signs of sexually abusive relationships, how the survivors feel and how to effectively intervene as a friend.
As the actors went through the two scenes, one being before and after, they set up a scenario where a friend may have been able to notice the possibility of abuse.
At the end, audience members were called up on stage to try and intervene as the friend in the scene.
With the help of proctors who went more in depth about sexual trauma in-between scenes, the performance also went through the best way help a survivor who has been sexually assaulted.
Menella said, “I think it is a misconception that just because a significant other forces themselves on you, it’s not considered rape when in fact it is.”
While this is the first time interACT makes an appearance at Cerritos College, Menella hopes to invite the troupe back in the near future.
“We would like to bring them [the group] back in the fall and would like to have bigger groups. I think we’d have a bigger turnout in the Fall,” she said.
The interACT troupe focuses on making sure performances can include the audience as much as possible.
Many students, such as child development major Jennifer Gray, left the show with a greater understanding on the importance of doing something rather than nothing.
“I think it teaches people to stand up for others[…] I think that this would help resolve a lot of the issues on a college campus,” said Gray.
Gray was also one of the many members of the audience who went on stage for a chance to act out an intervention.
“It was actually fun and from the experience I learned a lot of stuff,” she stated.
After the show was over, those who attended filled out surveys about sexual assault while Student Health Services set up booths outside with food and information.
Menella also stressed that students are always welcome to Student Health Services if they need help with finding resources.
