HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF I
n your daily life, how often do you think about your personal safety? Maybe it’s not something you’ve ever been that concerned about, compared to other people you know. Or it is, and so you’ve developed a set of habits that are supposed to keep you from being mugged, or followed, or sexually assaulted. Don’t carry cash. Take a different route home from work every day. Never leave a drink unattended. Maybe you used to worry sometimes, and now you don’t. You’re not going to live in fear, you’ve decided. Or you simply feel too exhausted, even powerless. In the back of your mind, though, do you ever think about fighting back? What if you could learn how? A group of female college students attempts to do just that in Lily Padilla’s daring, visceral play How to Defend Yourself. In an empty campus gym, they gather for a series of self-defense workshops only a few days after two fraternity brothers rape a classmate named Susannah. But as they memorize attackers’ weak spots, practice wrist escapes, and throw punches, they wonder: will any of it keep them safe? Self-defense, according to workshop co-organizer Brandi, is about more than physical training. A senior with a black belt in karate, Brandi tries to instill in her peers a shift in mindset as well—they should think like fighters, not victims-in-waiting. First-year student Diana is all in, amped to discover how to neutralize threats. But for her, and for the rest of the class, self-defense techniques don’t instantly lead to empowerment. Fellow firstyear Mojdeh freezes up during the first exercise, and wallflower Nikki balks at one of the class’s core tenets: Your body is a weapon. “Maybe your body,” she jokingly tells Brandi. Meanwhile, the workshop’s other facilitator, Kara, is struggling to process what happened; Susannah is Kara’s best friend and one of her and Brandi’s sorority sisters. With grit and surprising humor, Padilla (who uses they/them and she/her pronouns) traces how these five women all contend with the same question:
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HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF by Lily Padilla directed by Marti Lyons
Mar. 13–Apr. 7, 2019
“What does it mean to carry around a lifetime of feeling like you need to defend yourself?” During the second workshop session, two upperclassmen in the same fraternity as Susannah’s attackers show up. Asked by Brandi to participate, Eggo and Andy are eager to stand against rape and be good male allies, but they aren’t always sure what that means. They’re not alone in their confusion: in the midst of the class’s exercises and training drills, women and men alike are wrestling with gender roles, consent, and the fundamental messiness of sex and desire. And although Eggo and Andy’s presence initially sparks conflict, guys aren’t the enemy here; for Padilla, vilifying individuals or certain groups
