How to Defend Yourself

by Liliana Padilla

Overview

Seven college students gather for a DIY self-defense workshop after a sorority sister is raped. They learn how to “not be a victim,” how to use their bodies as weapons, how to fend off attackers. The form of self-defense becomes a channel for their rage, trauma, confusion, anxiety and desire – lots of desire. Challenged to determine what they want and how to ask for it, the students must ultimately face the insidious ways rape culture steals one's body and sense of belonging.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780573710636
Publisher:	Concord Theatricals
Publication date:	05/31/2024
Pages:	116
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.24(d)

About the Author

Liliana Padilla makes stories about belonging, healing, and transformation. How to Defend Yourself premiered at the Humana Festival and Victory Gardens Theatre and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Liliana received an MFA in playwriting from UC San Diego.
 

Editorial Reviews

The stunningly lit scene seemed to play in slow motion, peeling back years of learned social behaviors to evoke the both terrifying and exciting possibilities of tenderness, sex, danger and passion.” – The New York Times

From the Publisher