Silent No More: UW-EC tackles sexual assault issue in ‘The... Nightingale’

Reprinted with permission.
On The Town, Page C01
Release date: Oct. 16, 2014
Silent No More: UW-EC tackles sexual assault issue in ‘The Love of the
Nightingale’
By Jocelyn Syrstad/ Leader-Telegram staff
Statistics indicate that one in four college women will be sexually assaulted during their
academic career. So it is no surprise that UW-Eau Claire’s Music and Theatre Arts Department
chose to tackle that issue in its upcoming play.
UW-Eau Claire will perform “The Love of the Nightingale,” which opens tonight at Riverside
Theatre in Haas Center, to demonstrate the unfortunately long history of sexual assault. The
show, which is a contemporary retelling of a classical Greek myth, was chosen by director
Jennifer Chapman to raise questions surrounding sexual assault in all of its forms.
“It’s a very contemporary play that is telling a story of how sexual assault is used to silence
somebody,” Chapman said. “It is so timely, especially on a college campus. I hope it opens a
dialogue that helps people think more openly about this issue.”
“The Love of the Nightingale” is about about Tereus, the king of Thrace, who marries Procne,
the daughter of the king of Athens. Procne gets lonely being away from her home and loved ones
and asks her husband to bring her sister, Philomele, to Thrace as well.
As Tereus — played by Seth Cahill — is escorting Philomele — played by Laura Schlichting —
back to Thrace, he rapes her, and when she threatens to talk, he cuts out her tongue. Tereus
attempts to silence Philomele, but she spends the rest of her life trying to share what happened to
her regardless of her inability to speak.
“Even though the play revolves around this awful act, the play is about hope,” Chapman said.
“Just because someone tries to silence you, it doesn’t mean you have to abide. The female in this
play continues to have a voice even after her own death. The end of the play almost feels like a
beginning. It asks questions of all of us.”
The show contains mature content, as the scene of the sexual assault is shown on stage. One of
the biggest challenges for Cahill and Schlichting was to accurately stage the sexual assault.
It was very important to everyone involved in the show that they didn’t do a “Disney version” of
1
Reprinted with permission.
the assault to avoid offending survivors who may be in attendance, Chapman said. She added
that although the scene put the actors out of their comfort zone, both Cahill and Schlichting are
seasoned and talented actors who understand what it means to “play pretend.”
“When I first read the script, it struck me with how difficult this show would be to perform,”
Cahill said. “The biggest challenge came in how to accurately portray the sexual assault so it
does it justice and not play down the struggle, but also not go too far. It’s an important message
that needs to be said, but it is likely there will be someone in the audience who has been a victim
or knows a victim, and we don’t want to offend anyone by not giving that moment justice.”
Actors are taught to embrace and have empathy for their characters. For Cahill, especially, it was
a challenge for him to embrace a role in which he played a rapist. He said it was hard to find
motivation to embody someone who is “sick and evil,” but he knew it was important to show
both sides of the assault to make it most accurate.
For Schlichting, it was equally as challenging for her to embrace being a victim for an all-tooreal situation.
“I know someone who has been raped, so I feel that connection,” she said. “It’s hard getting to a
place where you’re so vulnerable and so broken on stage, but it’s an important story to tell. I
think the show will have a powerful impact on the audience.”
“The Love of the Nightingale” runs tonight, Friday and Saturday and continues with five shows
next week. There also will be information and representatives available for those interested in
more information or support on sexual violence.
The play, which is set centuries ago, demonstrates that sexual assault always has been a hotbutton issue. But Chapman said the play isn’t suggesting a solution to the problem. Rather, it is
simply trying to expose the issue and the questions surrounding it.
“For me, this play is a poem,” Chapman said. “I know for me, poetry is a really saturated and
emotional experience. I don’t have a clear description of how I feel after reading a poem, but I
know what I feel.
“We’re not trying to send a message and this isn’t a (public service announcement.) If we evoke
some kind of feeling from the audience, that’s when we did our job.”
Syrstad can be reached at 715833-9206, 800-236-7077 or jocelyn. [email protected].
2
Reprinted with permission.
Seth Cahill (as Tereus), left, and Laura
Schlichting (as Philomele) rehearse a scene of violence in UW-Eau Claire’s production of “The
Love of the Nightingale.” The show, which features mature content, opens Friday at Riverside
Theatre in Haas Fine Arts Center in Eau Claire.
Staff photo by Marisa Wojcik
3