Press Release:
Outhouse Theatre and Red Line Productions present HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF by Liliana Padilla
Outhouse Theatre Co (Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Ulster American, The Flick) reunite with director Claudia Barrie (Dry Land, Bengal Tiger at Baghdad Zoo, The Cripple of Inishmaan) to present the Australian premiere of Liliana Padilla’s blazingly original new play.
Seven college students gather for a DIY self-defence workshop after a sorority sister is sexually assaulted. They learn to use their bodies as weapons. They learn to fend off attackers. They learn “not to be a victim.” Learning self-defence becomes a channel for their rage, anxiety, confusion, trauma and desire. Lots of desire.
Winner of the prestigious Yale Drama Prize and a finalist for the 2019 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Liliana Padilla’s blazing new play explores what it means to live in a culture saturated with violence and what it means to heal. With sharp humour and brutal honesty, the play examines what we want, how to ask for it, and the violator and violated inside us all.
After their acclaimed production of Dry Land, Outhouse and Barrie, are thrilled to team up again with a cast of some of Sydney’s most exciting emerging talent.
“Empowering and optimistic, thrillingly kinetic and grounded in truth.” – Chicago Tribune
“Liliana Padilla’s excellent, high octane, award-winning comic drama…will long be remembered” – Chicago Theatre Review
Image: Marnya Rothe
Dates + Ticketing
Previews: 11 – 12 August 2022
Season: 13 August – 3 September 2022
Tuesday – Saturday 7.30PM
Sunday 5PM
Saturday matinees 2PM
Approximate run time: 95 minutes
Presented by Outhouse Theatre Co & Red Line Productions
Written by Liliana Padilla
Director: Claudia Barrie
Producer: Jeremy Waters
Assistant Director: Sophia Bryant
Stage Manager: Mollie Webb
Set Designer: Soham Apte
Lighting Designer: Saint Clair
Costume Designer: Emily Brayshaw
Sound Designer: Samantha Cheng
Intimacy Coordinator: Shondelle Pratt
Fight Choreographer: Scott Witt
Dialect Coach: Linda Nicolls-Gidley
Cast: Georgia Anderson, Madeline Dona, Brittany Santariga, Jessica Spies, Jessica Paterson, Michael Cameron and Saro Lepejian.
