Sitara Thobani, an assistant professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH) established contact with the troupe. She talked about navigating the process of bringing them to campus.

“This is an event that is meant for the MSU community and for the community. It’s an event that’s meant to provide opportunity for dialogue, for coming together as a community, addressing these issues,” Thobani said. “It’s about recognizing that sexual abuse and violence is a very urgent topic, but also is something that is experienced in different ways by different people.”

Each event centers around discussions of childhood and adulthood sexual abuse and the current climate and conversation in greater society surrounding these issues. The events are free and open to the public.

The members of Positively Shameless use different characters and narratives to explore the dynamics of sexual abuse in childhood and how those dynamics grow and evolve into discussions of survivorship.

During the workshop, students are invited to participate in acting exercises or conversations. There will be time for community dialogue after Wednesday's performance. 

The troupe hopes to engage the public in conversations about how society plays a role in stifling conversations surrounding sexual assault. Thobani said she recognizes the potential for building on conversations to happen all over the world about the same issues.    

“Both the workshop and the play is hopefully to highlight the different ways in which we can engage in these kinds of discussions,”; Thobani said. “Art and performance are very powerful ways to engage in social critique, especially when we’re talking about issues of representation.”

This series of events is sponsored by RCAH and co-sponsored by the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives, the Muslim Studies Program, the Asian Pacific American Studies Program, Peace and Justice Studies, and the Department of Theatre.