SOLD Performance - Limited Chance to See! - September 26, 2010
SOLD
Adapted by Tessa Hauptman, from the novel by Patricia McCormack
Directed by Jennifer Mulligan
Ensemble: Amy Bartlett, Michelle Cohen, Sophia Fetter, Raquel Powell, and Anna Smith.
Every year in India, 12,000 Nepalese young women are sold into sex slavery. Patricia McCormack traveled extensively in this region listening to their stories. The result was the National Book Award nominee: 'Sold'.In honoring the many women and children she interviewed, this novel tells the compelling story of the composite character Lakshmi, a thirteen year-old rural girl trafficked to Calcutta. Now this eye-opening tale has come to the stage in a dramatic adaptation by Tessa Hauptman, here directed by Jennifer Mulligan and produced in cooperation with the Not For Sale Campaign, a leading modern-day abolitionist organization.
You have a limited chance to catch the two remaining performances of this run at Sweet Caroline's Sunday 9/26 and Wednesday 9/29. Prepare to be shocked, engaged and inspired. We see the world through the innocent eyes of a naive country girl. Having been brought to a brothel, Lakshmi has no frame of reference to even recognize the true nature of the "Happiness House" where she has been promised work. Given fine clothes and shoes she marvels at the ways of city folk. Of course, it is not long before the true nature of her future is made apparent when she is beaten, drugged, raped and broken. As the book relates:
"Instead of the city with roofs of gold that she had imagined, she finds only horror: 'Men come. / They crush my bones with their weight. / They split me open. / Then they disappear. / I cannot tell which of the things they do to me are real, / and which are nightmares / I decide to think that it is all a nightmare. / Because if what is happening is real, / it is unbearable.'"
The staging of the play is both unique and remarkable. Five young actresses fill the voice of Lakshmi, in turn and sometimes in unison. The set is purposively disjointed, unsettling and vaguely disturbing. The audience is scattered about as the story unfolds between and around us. We are effectively brought closer to the edge of our comfort zone. You are in a brothel where minds are bent and bodies are broken. This is not the image projected in most portrayals of such "happiness" houses, but from the viewpoint of prostituted women it is surely the reality. Will this young girl be rescued by the "pink man", the American she has been warned about? Go see the play, and find out!
This short staging manages to go beyond a simple one-dimensional story line and touches on some of the more complex realities of this nefarious trade: The threats and lies that are employed to compel compliance; language barriers that make escape impossible; police and governmental corruption; the complicity of caregivers that sell these children; the dire conditions that lead people to make such desperate choices; the cultural attitudes toward women that make these practices seem acceptable and the difficulty of creating change in the face of all these obstacles. Kudos to the cast and congratulations to Ms. Mulligan.
I was struck by how similar this tale was to the true story of Somaly Mam that she relates in her narrative 'The Road of Lost Innocence'. Although her horror story occurs in Cambodia and Thailand, and the tortures she describes are many-fold worse than those presented here, the basic facts are remarkably identical. You don't have to go to the other side of the world to find this kind of organized rape, torture and degradation of women. You don't really have to go much further than your own backyard. Wherever you live, you can easily go on the Slavery Map and find reported instances of modern-day slavery close to home. Sadly New York City has been identified as a major hub for human trafficking. Many young women and children, recruited into the sex industry in much the same manner, end up in New York. If coercion and violence were not initially part of the story, most often they soon become central to it.
Following the play we are treated to a brief introduction to human trafficking by Deirdre Mars, the New York State director of the Not For Sale Campaign. This organization has been in the forefront of the modern-day abolitionist movement with projects around the world squarely aimed at freeing enslaved people. Perhaps most importantly, Ms. Mars focuses on the many ways everyday citizens can become informed and involved in ending slavery in our lifetimes. Whatever your talents, whatever your level of commitment, there are ways you can help. A wide variety of Fair Trade products, books, clothing and jewelry are offered in the Freedom Store. Proceeds support prevention and aftercare projects, as well as the efforts of Not For Sale here in New York.
We live in a culture that sexualizes younger and younger girls, and frequently glamorizes pimps and prostitution. Through advertising and all commercial media we are bombarded with pornographic imagery. This play is a great and much needed reality check. My sincere thanks to all involved.
Avra Cohen
Fight Slavery Now!
FightSlaveryNow.Org