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| Angelica Saario, Meghan Ramos, Payten Christopher McLeod, Hanna Nur, Christine Ward, Griffin Slivka, and Mantra Rostami Photo by John Groseclose |
highlights from local critics reviews - (click link at bottom of each review to read complete review)
Click here for more information on this production that runs through February 28
"Stray Cat Theatre's thoughtfully cast production of Liliana Padilla's sometimes uncomfortable drama How to Defend Yourself grabs you with its emotional honesty. Set at a college self-defense class, the play brings together a group of young women and two male allies grappling with fear, anger, confusion, and resilience in the aftermath of a sexual assault on their campus. While I have a few small issues with the play, the ensemble approaches the difficult material with sensitivity and commitment in a smartly directed production that feels both intimate and unsettling." - Gil Benbrook, TalkinBroadway.com (click here to read the complete review)
"probes a serious issue confronting our society – raping women. Liliana Padilla’s 2019 play that premiered off-Broadway in 2023 deals with the shame of confronting such a violation as it challenges a recipient to resolve such a fate and move on with life....Christine Ward handles the instructor Brandi’s perspective with insightful directness. Meghan Ramos tackles gun obsessed Diana with explosive dynamics, Mantra Rostami is the more introspective Mojdeh while Angelica Saario’s Nikki and Hanna Nur’s Kara are both inward and outward directed. As the two men in the class, Payten Christopher McLeod’s Eggo and Griffin Slivka’s Andy expose the male perspective in candid discussions about forced and consensual sex." -Chris Curcio, Curtain Up Phoenix (click here to read the complete review)
"The show’s physicality is its own kind of poetry: combative, well-choreographed, and unrelenting. Director Elizabeth Broeder creates a space where every gesture counts, where each sparring session risks tipping into revelation. Maren Maclean Mascarelli’s fight and intimacy coordination bring startling immediacy even to the most comic moments, including the hip-thrust maneuver that transforms assault into escape in a single muscular beat. It’s funny, yes, but it’s also an act of survival....not a play to dismiss. Its humor is sharp, its empathy genuine, and its refusal to package trauma into a neat moral lesson feels like a form of integrity." - David Appleford, Broadway World (click here to read the complete review)
