Notes
Why Good Kids?
These notes come from our director and dramaturgs explaining why we believe this story needs to be told, and why now is the perfect time to do it. Feel free to read these here and also in our program.
Our land acknowledgement is also listed here to recognize those who have occupied this land before us and, as well as their struggle and hardship. Indigenous women are especially vulnerable to sexual violence and often end up missing. However, their cases receive far less media attention.
Director's Note
Hello audience member. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for choosing to come to the theatre tonight. Thank you for choosing to spend your night experiencing this story (in person!) with us. And thank you for being open to engage in a conversation about a reality that can sometimes be “too much” to talk about.The story you are about to watch is a story about a sexual assault based on real events. While it might be uncomfortable to talk about it, it is important for us to engage in conversations about this reality in order to bring awareness to it. Because it is, in fact, a reality that many people face throughout their lives, even more than we may realize. 1 out of every 6 women in America have been the victim of a sexual assault. Women between the ages of 16 and 19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of sexual assault and only 20% of female college student victims, ages 18-24, report to law enforcement. While it is easy to think of sexual assault as something that only happens with strangers in a “dark alley and some guy jumps out and grabs you,” as one character in this play puts it, the reality is that sexual assault can happen in a variety of ways. It can happen anywhere, to anyone. A person who commits sexual assault can actually be a person we love, a person we trust, or a person we consider as being a “good kid.”I hope this play brings awareness to the realities of sexual assault in our modern society. I hope it destroys any misconceptions people might have about what a rapist looks like. And I hope it starts a conversation. Like the playwright, Naomi Iizuka, said: “You don’t solve a problem like sexual assault with anything other than a deep shift in attitude, and a deep shift in attitude happens conversation by conversation, in dorm rooms, parties and rehearsal halls.” Let tonight start that deep shift of attitude in our community.
— María Amenábar Farías
Dramaturgs' Note
Every 68 seconds someone is sexually assaulted. Every 68 seconds a person decides to forever alter their victim’s path in life, but rarely does it affect the offender. Only 25 of 1,000 perpetrators end up in prison for their crimes: that's only 2.5% of offenders. These offenders are often considered to be the best in their community before the crime, the best of the best, the “good kids.” They are put on a pedestal and sympathized with while the survivors are left picking the pieces of themselves off the floor and putting themselves back together.We live in a time when sexual assault is often blamed on the victim: they shouldn't have been drinking, why’d they wear such a short skirt, they're stupid for getting in the car with them. Sexual assault survivors don't just survive their assault, they survive a constant onslaught of aggression, manipulation, distrust, and trauma. Supporting survivors by providing outreach opportunities, local and national resources, counseling opportunities, and local support groups is our top priority. Knowledge is power and by providing these resources we can encourage you as the audience to use this newfound power to provoke change in your communities, just as our company and production team has done with this production.The entire company and production team has come together to not just present this story, but learn to educate, respect, and take care of each other. We focused on mental health and consent throughout the rehearsal process, ensuring the actors’ health and safety, as well as that of the audience. This production may be triggering at moments. But we feel the need to tell this story. We hope the resources provided in the dramaturgy research can help you feel more at ease and supported during the School of Theatre and Dance’s production of Good Kids by Naomi Iizuka.
— Lorelei Wernecke and Marisa Patten
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that Illinois State University is located on the traditional lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Myaamia, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. These Native nations lost their ancestral lands through violent forced removals and broken treaties. The lands continue to carry the stories of these nations and their people who were the caretakers, just as the people continue to carry the stories of this land.
As members of a public settler colonial institution, we acknowledge our responsibility not only to understand this history but also to actively confront the ways in which colonial policies and thinking continue in our personal and professional lives. In the theatre, specifically, we recognize that this industry has been complicit and even instrumental in misrepresenting Indigenous people (both in its literature and on its stages) and in marginalizing Indigenous people and cultures. We commit to create change and progress.
We ask that you join us on that journey.