UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State will play host to six students and a faculty member from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa for the first performance of the award-winning play “Reclaiming the P…Word” outside of South Africa. They, along with several Penn State students, are actors in the self-written play, which fights against the cultures that enable sexual violence on their campus and in South African society.
Students, staff and faculty from University of the Western Cape jointly wrote and performed “Reclaiming the P…Word” to reimagine women’s bodies based on strength and resilience, and to confront the demeaning words commonly used as insults. The play, which has been compared to “The Vagina Monologues,” includes personal experiences from women in the Cape Town community.
Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, at the State Theatre and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, in Heritage Hall in the HUB-Robeson Center. Attendance is free to the community. The production is being co-directed by Mary Hames, director of the Gender Equity Unit at the University of the Western Cape, and Kikora Franklin, associate professor of theatre/dance, in the Penn State School of Theatre.
The event is hosted by Triota, the Women's Studies honor society, and cosponsored by Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies; the African Feminist Initiative; the Center for Global Studies; African American Studies; the Africana Research Center; the College of the Liberal Arts; the LGBTQA Student Resource Center; the Rock Ethics Institute and UPAC.
A discussion titled, “Feminist Art and Activism on Campus: A Transnational Discussion,” featuring students and faculty from Penn State and the University of the Western Cape, will also take place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30, in 160 Willard Building.