Women throughout history experienced common oppression of their voices and the validity of their circumstances. The Mirage Theater Company in New work has worked with Playwrights like Melina Lein, Author of Broken Dolls, to advocate and spread awareness for women’s stories on abuse, sex trafficking, and 21st-century slavery. This piece “Ruined” By Lynn Nottage will be set in the Civil war period of the democratic republic of congo. Making it historical but also advocating for the positions and choices women are put through by the impressionable limits of society and its expectations. In conjunction, I believe that “Ruined ” is an excellent choice of a fictional story that can help any audience member visualize and compare to the world they currently live in. Providing emphasis on the international aspect of both plays advocating and spreading awareness that this happens everywhere and has been a consistent issue throughout history. If we continue to educate others on the incorporations of expectations society has developed and held onto since these times of oppression. It is time to re-teach and re-educate to the ever-growing learning times of our society for the most current ways of respect and accountability, and basic human decency. 

This show takes place within the civil war history within the democratic republic of congo. This show is an excellent representation of the place women are viewed to have within their current society. How they are emphasized to be for someone else or property of someone else without being owned, they are viewed as worthless and frantically attempt to find someone to take them in. The bar owner Mama Nadi only wants the physically pretty girl that’s being sold to her. She only thinks about her value in the male scope and how they would want her and considers the work it takes to take someone else in. One of the main characters, Salima, is even raped and begs the other girls not to tell their caretaker Mama Nadi about it because she will be upset about the care for the child instead of upset at the cause, the men who committed the act. She will be upset about providing care and food for another mouth. Throughout the play, two of the girls under Mama Nadi’s care have a plan to escape and try to reach their old families once again. Sophie came to Mama Nadi Lacking fertility, so she could not get pregnant. That is why it can seem suspicious of her to turn down men’s advances and similar requests. She does what they want but does not indulge in any rewards from them—at the same time, forming a minor rivalry between Sophie and Salima against another prostitute, Josephine. Christian, Salimas’ husband, often comes back drunk and disorderly with other soldiers. Sophie was supposed to leave with a long-standing customer of Mama Nadis to restore her fertility, but he left without her to be caught in the crossfires of war at the bar. At the end of the Battle, Salima appears, claiming her unborn child is dead and that the Soldiers may not use her body as a battleground anymore, and she dies. Mama Nadi is joined by Christian, her drunken cohort, to receive help in running the bar after it is destroyed; she does not confirm nor deny his help. Providing that even in this society where Mama Nadi caters to the man and pretends to be independent accepts help from a drunk who happens to be sober at that time.  

In order to emphasize the role and importance of the women’s undeniable role as the imposed and invaded upon, there will be a trigger warning, emphasizing the seriousness of this topic of discussing sex trafficking, how common it can be and included an announcement about Partnering with PACT-Ottawa (Persons Against the Crime of Trafficking in Humans). Their goal is to To prevent human trafficking and to protect trafficked persons. This organization recognizes human dignity and promotes the well-being of all trafficked persons. They’re mission is to collaborate with other organizations like, The Mirage Theater company to continuously network with other groups to prevent the trafficking of persons and increase the protection of victims. There will be an ongoing Fundraiser before and after the show to raise money for awareness, education on sex trafficking, and support systems for those inflicted. This theater company has a long-standing partnership with the play “Broken Dolls” by Melina Tien. They work with that play and raise money for the mental health organization NYC Well. Working with PACT-Ottawa will benefit from fundraising money for preventing human trafficking and protecting its victims. Therefore, Advocating for awareness and protection of women and their mental health will help women benefit and believe in the worthiness of reconciliation. 

Women have been placed second in society for as long as we can remember. Awareness is the first step to causing more influence on young minds to understand the pain and suffering inflicted and to emphasize the overwhelming amount of control the men have in this play. In contrast, the business runs on the fact that men want the attention of a woman regardless of the woman’s intentions because in this society, it is deemed normal to disregard consent and the women’s values. Presenting the audience with the opposite of an ideal world and then having a discussion to provide some context on what the audience believed was right and what was wrong. Even though we have changed laws for women’s rights, we continue to have to convince people to change mindsets because of similar situations from our history that are represented through “Ruined” as past tragedies of society and war. Society changes, and dynamics change; women do not deserve the oppression at the hands of men to playgate to the male’s fragile ego. It is time for direct advocacy of change for awareness and mindsets.

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.