Image theatre: Sexual assault

As of yet, I do not have a concrete idea of how we can work with image theatre dealing with sexual assault; however, I can describe some ways in which I've been involved in image theatre as a possible springboard for new ideas. This type of theatre has interested me since eleventh grade, and if used properly, I think it can be an effective way of social education.

Note: I have never performed a piece of image theatre for a group outside of my theatre class, and I'm not sure how image theatre is framed for a public viewing - to me, the power of image theatre lies in the active process of creating it, not in passively watching it "performed." Leading a workshop on image theatre and sexual assualt with a small group of students isn't really an option (or is it?), but I'll take you through the method I've used so that we have something to base our own piece on.

First, the group must decide on a topic/issue - in our case, sexual assault. Then, one person volunteers to be the initial "sculptor." He/she physically forms the rest of the group into a tableau that represents his/her idea of the topic. After this, the next volunteer jumps out of the image to be the next sculptor, and the old one takes his/her place in the tableau. This new sculptor modifies the image, and this process continues until the group has reached a consensus about their representation of the issue. This image can be realistic or abstract, but is usually most effective if it evokes an emotional/reflective response in the viewer. Once the "real world" image is created, the group then alters the tableau to show an idealized version or solution to the problem presented in the first image.

If we were to use this kind of theatre during Sexual Assault Awareness Week, we could go through the devising stage as a class, come up with two images and "perform" them silently or with music in a public space or in a performance. Perhaps it might also be interesting to integrate images with film clips or projections, like Alexa suggested; however, that might distract from the impact of the image.