There are two common victims of erasure of voices and current constructs built out of cultural oppression. Both racial minorities and Gender assigned Women. These victims often lack closure and reconciliation with their oppressed abusers; therefore, they can start to feel erased by the importance of society and devalued because even their most basic human rights were violated. The Play “Broken Dolls” advocates for those with traumatizing backgrounds all coming together under the single common element of abuse and healthily expressing and facing their pain. This Play will be advocated as a therapeutic and validating piece of the realities women face daily, with diversity advocating for all kinds of women from different lives and struggles. All were obtaining the eternal struggle of being exploited by the situations they were forced to be put in by what society teaches men is okay because of the historical consequences being severely weighted in favor of men, specifically white men. If women were validated by society, it would not be so easy for men to get away with such malicious tendencies because of societal bias towards men and the male gaze. This Play can help advocate for mental health awareness of women and the after-effects of the current underground problems society is unwilling to address, including work without pay, sex trafficking, and abuse in the workplace.
The Largest impact of this Play is its written assigned representation. This Play represents impacted individuals and their stories widespread nationally and internationally throughout history. How no gender identifying woman (in this case being represented within this Play) how they all have one horrific element in common. The infliction men seem to enact on women as a form of repression and from all societal impacts. These women all commonly have been forced to do one thing or another under the jurisdiction of the men/race majority running the society. They use race privilege to exceed the law and secretly develop modern slave work based on immigrant “debts” for a better life and manipulation. Including widespread physical and psychological torture forcing back-breaking, exhausting, and or sexual exploiting work. They are degrading and subjecting themselves to the male society gaze of beauty standards and disintegrating women to the extent of the white male and his privilege. All the characters in this Play come together in one social service office, crossing paths sharing and reliving flashbacks to their traumas inflicted by similar abusers that caused oppression of themselves physically, emotionally, and financially. In the opening scene, a character named by those around her is asked her name, and it is traumatic to the last time someone asked her that question. The surrounding characters emphasize the feeling and story by altering, joining the memory, and taunting the victim again. It does not necessarily represent the character they are themselves but the victim’s subconscious and how they view their traumatic experience. This story shows how a woman from any background can relate to a general struggle with society’s capabilities of holding better standards for women. Therefore, standards that do not result in misogyny or lesser on the hierarchy chain will create an everlasting issue of impressionable minds forever taught and forced to understand the same pattern. Shaming them and perpetuating the victim, making them believe it can somehow be their fault they were taken and sold into a modern kind of slavery. Adhira, one of the main characters, worked in a hotel with A-Huei, another main character working at a hotel without payment in the form of 21st-century slavery. They were brought there to pay off their debts and make more money to send home to their families. Instead, they were convinced they had to earn their “debts” for being there in the first place. Earn their place before they could make money but simultaneously pushed away from earning. Never able to escape this constant stage of controlling bosses docking them on every minute of offenses, finding every way to say they are paying them less when they are not paying them at all. Adhira says some powerful words at the end of Scene 5: “You are not enough for help, care, and saving from being burned.” Adhira learned these qualities while being at the beck and call and trial and error of constant workplace abuse and lack of courage to speak up about issues because they were overlooked and glamorized by the perpetrators. Therefore, it is beneficial to raise money and awareness for mental health institutions and studies that give back to the community and provide easier access to care, education, and treatment.
Promoting this piece will educate everyone and increase awareness for all women to become eye-openers to each other. To be on the same side and hopefully any other gender also watching feels sympathy or interest in changing, helping women increase the representation of past traumas and not being judged or ridiculed for their feelings. Most shows are about unrealistic people and circumstances, but this shows the characters. The people can be anyone next to you, your mother, sister, girlfriend, coworker, friend, etc. Especially after the pandemic, this example shows a similar event that Mirage theatre company mirrors from April 2019. Mirage Theatre Company partnered with Vassar College Underground, a student organization from Vassar College, “aimed at combating human trafficking as part of a weekend residency from April 25 – April 27, 2019. The residency concluded with 2 staged readings of the script and a panel discussion about human trafficking.” (source 2) The show should start with a trigger warning providing clarity of mind before doing a complete run-through of the show with a discussion at the end to ask and receive questions from the audience. Also, during the event, it will have a donation fundraiser partnered with the Nyc Well, a mental health institution. Pushing against the exploitation of women and helping spread awareness about psychological abuse and stress and how common it is for people to presume it should be. They are manipulated or ignored. They are made to believe any problem they could be receiving is lesser than someone else and start to lose the significance of their existence. This show will be a massive slap of reality, but it will also provide courage and insight, and power to those receiving these stories of abuse. They are impacted by knowing what mindset to have when leaving that room. To learn the signs and know whom to provide aid to and trust. Considering the past stressors of the pandemic and isolation, I believe it would be wise to educate on sexual assault and the dark underground web recruited slavery and sex trafficking. They are putting a mirror up to look at the issues of society and place them abruptly clear and openly accessible. Hopefully prevent more from happening because the concept will be exposed and or compromised because the pandemic caused fewer women to be in more easily accessible vulnerable situations to be exploited. Now that we are returning to normalcy, people can be careless, and men get more ballsy to try inappropriate things because society’s impulses do not mix well with abstinence.
Therefore, the project started before the Global Pandemic in 2019, developing the Play into a completely viewable piece. Along with incorporating a trigger warning and a fundraiser with proceeds that go to NYC Well, a mental health company with Programs, services, and providers that offer support. Examples; include harm reduction, care coordination, individual/group/family therapy, psychiatric or substance use rehabilitation, psychotropic medication, medication-assisted treatment, and withdrawal management (detox) for those experiencing or at risk of experiencing mental health or substance use issues. As well as providing services that like the women in the Play are subjecting themselves to abuse they would have known about other helpful programs instead of feeling stuck. Services that include; Homeless services, Domestic Violence shelters, supporting housing resources, and resources for food access are all provided by NYC Well trying to construct a better option for those who have none.