Calling It Rape

directed by Daniela Raz

For two semesters Calling It Rape has presented a compelling forum for reflection on and discussion of the issues of rape and sexual assault.

The hour-and-a-quarter-long performance includes, among other pieces, two actual interviews with Harvard students, excerpts from Men on Rape by Timothy Beneke and passages from various well-known plays. Three men and three women perform all of the roles.

The play started last year as part of Take Back the Night Week, a week dedicated to discussing violence against women.

This year the performance has taken a new turn under director Daniela Raz, who hopes to widen the play's audience. In conversation with The Crimson, she said she would like to see the play done before "people who wouldn't normally see it, for small audiences that can really interact."

Raz wants to perform the play for various campus groups, and she wants to reach first-year students. In addition to staging the play in the Harvard Union, Raz hopes that next year the play will be a part of orientation week for all first years to see.

A wide Harvard audience can certainly relate to the issues the play brings up, especially because it focuses on specific problems and concerns in the Harvard community. As Raz said, "In terms of what went into the piece, we're not covering everything. This is for Harvard so it's as Harvard-specific as possible."

The play confirms this point by using interviews conducted at Harvard. These interviews emphasize the immediacy of the problem of violence against women, describing the physical act of the violence and then tracing each woman's growing consciousness about it.

All of the pieces in the play underscore the controversy and debate over definitions of rape. The interviews keep the performance on a personal level. One interview tells the story of "Sara," who was under the influence of alcohol when she was raped. Raz highlights what some might call ambiguities in her lack of consent by including a fictional monologue from the rapist's point of view.

Other skits include two versions of Stanley Kowalski's rape of Stella DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, using different tones and body gestures. Conceivably, some might think one interpretation is rape and one is not. Raz said, "The scene is an interesting bend on what heroes are all about, on how society heroicizes men."

In this collection of pieces, the actors had a larger than usual role in editing their pieces and choosing what to perform. Throughout the semester, they explored the way different art forms deal with rape. Because of this interaction, Raz noted that certain issues are emphasized. "Honestly, I think it's six people and me working to bring our own personal agenda to this. Everyone derives their own message," Raz said.

After every performance a discussion period is held in which members of the audience talk with the actors about the play. Due to the sensitive nature of topics discussed, members of counseling groups attend every performance, and ice-cream is served to make the post-discussion period more comfortable. Raz hopes the selections that comprise the play stimulate the discussion. "The object is not to stuff ideas down people's throats," Raz said. "It makes it charged not to say 'this is right' and 'this is wrong.'"