Editor’s Note: This article contains mentions of sexual assault.
As a 20-year-old woman, ideas of safety, self-defense, and security have been ingrained in me ever since I was a little girl. In elementary school, I was given a bracelet with my parents’ numbers on it in case I ever got separated from them, and was told to scream if led away by a stranger. Even now, I still share my location with people I trust, carry a Birdie alarm, and keep my AirPods on a low volume when walking alone.
It is this reality that makes “How to Defend Yourself” so hauntingly realistic, and a show that deserves to be seen, especially by college students learning to live alone for the first time.
The show is set in the immediate aftermath of a sexual assault on the college’s campus. A group of college students gathers for a DIY self-defense class to learn how to better defend themselves and channel their tumultuous feelings. The class soon becomes a way for them to channel their inner struggles and face both themselves and one another.
One elevating aspect of this play is its ability to blend serious topics with the humor and honesty present in everyday life. The story is heavy, tragic, and difficult to put into words, but even so, the actors expertly weave in jokes.
Each actor does the work to make their character feel like a real human being, someone you could run into while walking down the street.
Dale Leonheart did a fantastic job portraying class instructor Brandi as a complicated, well-meaning friend obsessed with making her class work. A friend of Susannah, the assault victim, Brandi was at the party when the assault occurred and ever since has felt the need to keep everyone around her safe.
Racked by guilt and panic, Brandi is a heartbreaking character to watch, especially as her composure unravels and she begins to clash with her best friend and sorority sister, Kara, played by Kayla Leacock.
At the end of the play, all I wanted to do was walk down and give Brandi a much-needed hug.
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Andy, played by Charlie Duffy, was an interesting addition. He demonstrates his appreciation for the self-defense class by going on a long monologue about how much he supports women, a monologue that caused me to put my head in my hands in secondhand embarrassment.
In spite of his rather performative-sounding speech, Brandi lets him and his friend Eggo join in her need to make the campus a safer place.
Each of the other characters in the class had their own struggles, mostly surrounding sex and sexuality as they try to find their place in the world. Diana, Madeline Rodriguez, and Mojdeh, Imaan Shah, are two friends wanting to rush a sorority together.
The two are still trying to find their place in the world. Diana is tough, confrontational, and struggles with self-acceptance, while Mojdeh will do anything to make herself more “wanted” by the men around her. As feelings heighten, the two begin to pull apart, affected by the turmoil of their present reality.
I loved the portrayals of these two and found myself wishing for a resolution to their friendship after painful revelations threatened to tear them apart.
While the stage looks the same for much of the show, each new day is accompanied by an ominous background music score and fresh outfits for each of the characters as they enter their self-defense space — a rec center classroom.
The characters’ wardrobe helps cue the audience into the idea that this type of thing could happen anywhere and to anyone. Beginning in the second passage of time, the characters slowly start incorporating more Iowa Hawkeye gear into their attire, giving way to the realizing the show isn’t set in some far-off, made-up college town.
It’s here, among UI students.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you are not alone. Local, free, confidential support is available 24/7 through the hotline operated by DVIP&RVAP at (800) 228-1625.