Katie Farrell became interested in social theater after creating a forum project based on interviews about the aftermath of sexual assault. During a discussion, a girl who had been in the audience came up to Katie crying, and Katie saw in her eyes a sense of shared experience and community. This moment illustrated for Katie the power of theater to allow people to see themselves in others' stories and experiences, and to feel less alone. Katie was drawn to directing theater after reading Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror and realizing theater could be used to explore societal issues and change the world. Katie uses both sociological and theatrical lenses to study topics like mental health stigma, sexual assault, and Islamophobia in order to understand
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Statement of Purpose
1. Statement of Purpose
Katie Farrell
“We shall form community with our stories. We will cast spells with our disclosures”,
states Charlotte Pierce-Baker in her book Surviving the Silence. During my work in social
theatre, based on Augusto Boal’s research in Theatre of the Oppressed, came a moment so
powerful that I cannot think of a better one to illustrate my purpose in doing theatre. Through
extensive research and interviewing within my community, I created a forum project on the
aftermath of sexual assault-- a ten minute scene comprised entirely of situations and phrases
from interviews. After reaching the discussion portion of the forum, a girl came out of the
audience and sat down next to me. When she looked me in the eyes, I could see that she was
crying, but more than that, I saw a fellow warrior. That moment of connectedness where I found
solace in knowing that I was not alone in my experiences, the knowledge that there were
hundreds of silent others beyond the two of us, brought me such a sense of community. As
humans, we seem to have this innate need to relate to each other. To me, that is the power of
theatre. Along with hundreds of others, I have been drawn to theatre for years, simply because I
might get the chance to see a bit of myself and my experiences onstage. We go to rediscover our
humanity. We go for a sense of community. As theatre artists, by disclosing our truths and the
truths of others, we re-humanize the world.
I first realized that I had to direct theatre when I read Fires in the Mirror by Anna
Deavere Smith for the first time. I struggled for a long time to rationalize why I had such a
problem with my own work. How selfish of me, I thought, to write about only my own
experiences and how presumptuous to pretend to know someone else’s. In her work, I found a
connection between theatre and sociology and a real, tried-and-true way through which theatre
can change the world and answer important societal questions. The way in which we interact
fascinates me. I study extensively topics like the appropriation of mental health terminology and
its contribution to stigma, sexual assault, and Islamophobia through both the sociological and
theatrical lense. What are the common contributors to these interpersonal abuses? How can we,
as a culture and as individuals, correct this? In the words of Augusto Boal, “The theater is a
weapon, and it is the people who should wield it.” I believe theatre is the way to change the
world. In my time at your program, I want to learn how to do that the most effectively.