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Audience donates money for 'Yellow Dress'
Campus Advocates Against Sexual Assault kicked off Sexual Assault Awareness Month Wednesday night with the one-woman drama "The Yellow Dress."
Not too long ago CAASA, which had been planning the activities for Sexual Assault Awareness Month since late February, was concerned as to whether or not the Deana Fund, who puts on "The Yellow Dress" would even make it to St. Cloud.
"Because CAASA's money, like the money of many other organizations, was frozen, we had to email them in Boston and tell them we couldn't pay them," CAASA member Stephan Bulawski said. "But they e-mailed back and said they would come anyway. They did this for free, in addition to paying their own way," Bulawski said. It was for this reason at the end of the night CAASA collected money to help pay for their flight home, as well as present them with SCSU totes and other goodies.
The "they" Bulawski referred to were Jen Brown who starred in the play, and National Program and Training Coordinator Lindsey Baxter who led a debriefing session following the performance.
"The Yellow Dress" is a story chronicling the progression of violence in the relationship of college freshman, Cindy, and her boyfriend Rick. During the performance, Cindy wore two dresses: a sleek, spaghetti strapped black gown she modeled while detailing the early sweet stages of her relationship and a yellow gown she wore as the relationship changed. When Cindy changed into the yellow gown, the audience began to really understand the severity of her story.
"I felt a little bit jittery and a little bit sick, a little anxious almost when she came out in the yellow dress," said junior communications major Yana Krupnik. "It was a turning point in the performance."
After "The Yellow Dress" concluded, the deafening silence and damp eyed audience members indicated Brown's portrayal of Cindy had made an impression.
"She completely embodied a person who had been through this," Krupnik said. "She embodied a normal woman, she looked like us, talked like us. I'm really glad it was a first person testimony."
Perhaps it was the personal connection with Cindy that caused the audience to sit in silence.
Through an interactive question and answer session Baxter helped the audience recognize the play's applicability to real life. She shared her personal stories about relationship violence and, with delicately interwoven humor, lightened the mood.
The most important information for survivors and friends of survivors of relationship violence or sexual assault to know is their resources.
"Talk to someone, if you have a friend who you think is in a destructive relationship, talk to someone," Baxter encouraged.
Local resources include:
Anna Marie's Shelter (320) 253-6900
Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center (320) 251-4357
SCSU Counseling Center (320) 255-3171
University Women's Center (320) 255-3995.
Kristen J. Kubisiak can be reached at: [email protected]
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