In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness month, regionally acclaimed actor Kat Hickey is partnering with the Center for Nonviolence to present a one-woman play on the topic called Natural Shocks.
The show opens October 17 at Wunderkammer Company.
For over 40 years, the Center has provided education, support, and advocacy to end domestic and other forms of violence, while modeling equality and power-sharing, with the vision is to create homes, communities, and a world free of violence and oppression.
Here WBOI’s Julia Meek discusses the scope of the project with Hickey and Elisiana Diaz-Martin, the center’s marketing & development coordinator and the importance of theater for social change.
Event Information:
Center for Nonviolence Production of Natural Shocks
at Wunderkammer Company
Friday & Saturday, October 17-18 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 19 at 2:00 p.m.
Admission: $15 and $20
For tickets and more information visit the Center for Nonviolence website.
Here is a transcript of our conversation:
Julia Meek: Kat Hickey, Elisiana Diaz-Martin, welcome.
Kat Hickey: Thanks for having us, Julia.
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: Thank you.
Julia Meek: Now you are teaming up to raise awareness for domestic and gun violence, a righteous cause. Why here, why now is it imperative that we act?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: So, Domestic Violence Awareness Month is crucial because violence is more prevalent than ever in all of its forms, physical, emotional and beyond.
And awareness months helps us shine light on these issues and show the community that help is available and no one should navigate violence alone.
Julia Meek: Very righteous, and so Kat Natural Shocks, that is a powerful one-woman play confronting both of the issues that Elisiana mentions; as a most accomplished actor, what makes this particularly impactful?
Kat Hickey: I've always had a big heart for theater for social change, and this show particularly came up because I was looking for something to produce, and when I found this show, it poses the problem.
We can see the problem on the stage, but it didn't pose a solution. It didn't pose an answer. So that's why I reached out to the Center for Nonviolence to partner with me so that as we pose the problem with the play, we can help leave them with the solution.
Julia Meek: How did that make you feel, Elisiana, to have such an offer from such a talent?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: When Kat pitched this idea to us, now, its two years ago, it's been in the making, we were beyond thrilled to be able to collaborate with her in this way.
You know, the center hasn't really done this kind of production work in the past, and we think it's going to be a very powerful way to bring this message and information to the broader community.
Julia Meek: It's a bold move. It's a bold play, and it's certainly a bold cause. Now, before we discuss the play itself, Would you remind us of the Center for Nonviolence's overarching mission? What's the action that you're going for?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: Well, the Center for Nonviolence provides education, support and advocacy to end domestic and other forms of violence.
Julia Meek: Again, righteous comes to mind, and it's something, of course, the whole community needs. This is really a legitimate, long street cred organization that you are representing.
It's also quite a task, and a goal that you set for yourselves. Is it doing something like opening new vistas, because you are getting some solutions, because it is somehow more action based?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: Yeah, you know, I think working on this production, I think it really allows people to come and relate to Angela in her story and to see a little bit of themselves.
Or, you know, a co-worker, your neighbor, a friend, someone you may love, and be able to kind of understand and have empathy and leave away with some broader understanding and resources at the end.
Julia Meek: And now, Kat, you are a former Center for Nonviolence client as well as a fierce advocate for this pressing cause. How does that particularly connect you to that population being served?
Kat Hickey: When I'm looking at how to present Angela, this character, I'm asking myself, how does she talk? What does she wear? What does her hair look like? And I'm making these choices so that the audience sees Angela as their next-door neighbor, as their cousin, as their friend.
I want them to see that Angela could be anyone, and I want to dispel the myth and the idea of what a client of the center might look like and allow them to see Angela anywhere in their environment, because she could be anyone.
Julia Meek: Amen. Now, okay, the play itself, it is highly acclaimed for blending sharp wit and raw honesty on a very, very touchy subject. What exactly makes this such a compelling offering? Knowing all of this, how does it help because it is the way it is?
Kat Hickey: Lauren Gunderson, who wrote this play, is well known for social commentary. She's well known for really strong women characters. She's really well known for writing great plays and a lot of solo shows.
I actually did one of her solo shows, The Catastrophist, last year at Purdue Fort Wayne, but we did it with five characters playing the different aspects of that one character.
So, Lauren does this really, really well. She writes a compelling story. She uses the metaphor of a storm to bring you in, and then over time is revealed what is actually happening. It's a really compelling way to tell a story.
Julia Meek: This is obviously a special opportunity for your center, for you personally, Elisiana. So, within the center, within the population, who all does it speak to? More importantly, just what does it say?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: Well, yeah, I think that this really speaks to most people. I think no matter who you are, where you come from, what experiences you personally have or have not had, you will walk away learning something about you, know someone else in your life, and maybe more about yourself as well.
Julia Meek: We know there's a stigma attached to having it happen to you. How restricting, how smothering, perhaps, is that stigma to a whole family?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: I think that many people can feel that they are isolated, that they're doing this alone, that no one will understand.
And you know, the Center for Nonviolence understands that everyone's journey, everyone's circumstance, everyone's story is different, but you aren't alone. And the Center for Nonviolence is definitely a safe place, an affirming place, with many of our services being completely free in order to get help.
Julia Meek: All a key part of this month of awareness, then?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: Yes, definitely.
Julia Meek: And this is being performed at Wunderkammer Company, Kat. We have done so many artcentric things in that neighborhood, at that very, very space. Why is this the right venue for this event?
Kat Hickey: Well, first of all, because Dan Swartz at Wunderkammer is a huge supporter of the arts, a great human being for this sort of project.
The show takes place in a basement in the middle of a storm. And so, the Wunderkammer space was really perfect to adapt for a basement type vibe. So, when you walk in, the whole space feels like you're in the basement with me.
We don't have to do a whole lot to give it that vibe. So, the entire audience will be experiencing the show in the space with me,
Julia Meek: With you, the basement, the situation, the circumstances. Just how effective can you say you think it's going to be?
Kat Hickey: Jordan Plohr is my set designer, and he has sent me the designs. We've done a walk-through of the space, and it's gonna be great.
We've actually built the set. We're not using the actual stage there. We've built a separate set. And the way it's designed, we're backing Angela into a corner, both metaphorically and physically.
Julia Meek: Now you are offering multiple showings and various related and meaningful activities. What can attendees look forward to?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: So, opening night, we are going to have a private reception for our donors, and following the opening night performance, we will have a post-show meet and greet with Kat and that will be pretty exciting.
Saturday's performance, there will be a talk back after that show, and then on Sunday, we are going to have a community resource, some tables available, starting at one, and the final performance will follow that, as well as another post-show, meet and greet with Kat.
Julia Meek: So, you have a holistic approach to presentation and actually, the healing starts there, and everybody will have a chance to make their comments, ask their questions, and it be a learning experience. Kat, are you looking forward to this part as much as the performance?
Kat Hickey: I am. I'm really looking forward to people...this show stirs up a lot of emotion. It might stir up a lot of thoughts.
It might cause people to connect some things they've experienced in their own life or heard about, and I want them to be able to walk out of that show not to their car, but to the lobby, where there will be people from the center who can ask questions, where they can ask me about the show.
What was this moment like? How did this Connect for them? It's really important to me that people are able to talk about it right after the show.
Julia Meek: And who's going to be there, do you think?
Kat Hickey: The reason why I wanted to do this theater piece was to bring theater folks and art folks in. Because I think the people who are already in this nonprofit space know what the center does. They know who to send their way. They know how to connect people.
But I wanted to get out into the broader community. I wanted the arts folks and the theater folks and just people who enjoy theater to be able to know about the center and know the kinds of people, the experiences people are having, in order to be able to connect those people with the center.
Julia Meek: And good luck. We so hope that you will realize that kind of a crowd and expect that you will. And meanwhile, Kat, the enormity of the part must be overwhelming to you, as well as the healing capabilities it provides you and others. How do they balance in your one-woman show mind?
Kat Hickey: This is the first time I've ever done a one-woman show, so it's a big undertaking. I've been working on memorizing it since July. So, I would say I'm probably about 80% there.
I assembled a team of people that I knew would give me space for my actual feelings while working through this show. So I have a lot of autonomy. My director, Kate Black, is letting me take the lead in a lot of ways, drive the blocking, if I have a strong opinion about something, we can steer things in that direction.
And also, I've been doing movement therapy, I've been doing art therapy. I've been assembling more and more tools to help me deal with the things that come up during this show.
Julia Meek: And have come up in your life. Is it a comfort, rather than a crunch of emotions, to be able to be presenting this at this time in your life?
Kat Hickey: The initial time where I was using the center's services. My whole life was on fire. I was just putting out as many fires as I could and trying to figure out where to live and what my children needed and juggling all those things.
I'm now five years out, and I have this whole new perspective on, I want to carry on less of this baggage. And this show feels like a way to stir things up again, figure out what needs sorted, what needs experienced, what needs felt, what needs healed, so that I can move on a little bit more free.
Julia Meek: Do you think that learning yourself will tend to enable you to show others the way more?
Kat Hickey: I have a very strong passion for giving back to the center. I'm helping out with the costs of the production so that all of the ticket sales, all of the donations, all of the sponsorships go to the center.
I feel really strongly about both helping the center have more resources to be able to help other people and also spreading the word so that other people can know about the center. Because I didn't know the center existed until the day I needed them.
Julia Meek: Elisiana, that has to be one of the best validations you can get for your organization and the work that it does.
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: Yeah, it feels almost like a huge responsibility, in a way. We really, the services that we provide are truly life changing. And I think that Fort Wayne is so lucky to have an organization like the center here.
Julia Meek: indeed, and it's been around a long time, and the problem's been around even longer, but making the awareness on your organization as well as the problem and doing something about it, it just must make your heart sing at this point.
Julia Meek: Yeah, truly it does.
Julia Meek: And I am curious, Elisiana, how do art forms like this help everyone get involved, everyone heal rather organically.
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: You know, theater does have a power to heal, to bring people together, to see a little bit of yourself in someone else's story.
And you know that alone, it's not really something that you can, like, put your hands on, you know, it's something that has to be experienced and shared. And it really has a lot of power to change some lives in that way.
Julia Meek: Can you believe that it's actually happening, of course, with somebody special, like Kat? Its your life work, in some ways, is all being sorted out and affirmed and taken to the next step? Could you have thought that was possible, say, a year or two ago?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: Yeah, you know, like, I've said, this was two years in the making, and so it's really been a project and a big lift for us to see it come to full fruition.
Julia Meek: And looking past this awareness month and this powerful event, what's next for the Center for Nonviolence and might your future hold more healing, interactive, artcentric activity?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: Moving forward, we are focusing on preventing harm, connecting people to resources and amplifying survivor voices. Every story told, every partnership that's formed, is about sustaining hope and showing that change is possible.
And I really do hope that this is something that the organization can keep doing, moving forward, in some kind of capacity.
Julia Meek: It certainly sounds like a multitasking way to tackle a horrid problem in a most gracious way for all of you, you workers at the center, your clients at the center, Kat, as you mentioned, for the community that loves good theater.
Kat Hickey: Absolutely. I've always had this heart for a theater for social change. And we've seen this, you know, we just did Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which allowed you to see the world through the lens of an autistic boy. With Fun Home when you and I chatted last six years ago.
So, there are opportunities with art to show you a life different than your own, without you feeling defensive about it. Just see it and know this is somebody else's experience.
Julia Meek: Critical and wonderful point, especially in this month of awareness. And there is no denying the hard road ahead in this battle. In your minds, can it be won?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: Yeah, certainly. You know it all starts with what we do at home, how we raise and teach our kids. You know, it's about how we treat each other and our family and our friends and yeah, definitely, I think we all have the power and capacity to learn and do better.
Kat Hickey: I'm doing all of this because I fully believe that we could be completely healed of domestic violence and gun violence.
And I think my part in that is this, is to speak my truth, to admit that I was a client of the Center for Nonviolence, to do this show, to bring this to light, and also, like Elisiana said, to raise my kids knowing what a healthy relationship looks like.
Julia Meek: So, I'll ask you both, what do you say to those who downplay the problem or somehow seek to blame the abused for causing it?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: You know, the center believes survivors. We know that everyone's experience with what it may look like, how it may come up in different ways, is always different than someone else's experience.
And yeah, I think that there are cases in which that has happened, and I think it's like the stance is just always it's like, well, we believe in survivors, we believe their story, we believe in what's happened, and we're going to stand with them. We're going to stand with survivors.
Julia Meek: Kat?
Kat Hickey: I think right now, we're living in a world where, systemically, we see a lot of gaslighting. We see a lot of manipulation, and that is a macrocosm of the microcosm.
So, if we say, in our families, in our friendships and our partnerships, no, everyone has the right to their opinion here, everyone has a right to take up space, then we can watch it trickle outward.
And so, my kids will always choose healthy relationships, because we've had so many conversations about what these unhealthy behaviors look like.
Julia Meek: Thank you both for good answers to a really, really tough question, and my last question to you, along with your push to keep the faith and overcome the stigma, that has to be a big part of it as well, how can we help everyone find that voice they deserve, and how can we make sure every last one of them will be heard?
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: Yeah, I think we have to, you know, just know that it's like small acts of courage, speaking out, standing up for one another, taking each other's hand and saying like, I believe you, and like, we'll figure this out, you know? I think that's like a powerful step that you can do.
Kat Hickey: My hope is that people would look up what these behaviors look like, that people would actually be familiar with what does gaslighting look like? What does manipulation look like?
We tend to throw these words around sometimes on social media. But I think it's really useful to know what abusive behaviors actually look like, because when you understand them, you'll see them very clearly in your work relationships, in your personal relationships, in our culture at large.
And I think it's useful for us to know what healthy relationships look like and what unhealthy and abusive relationships look like.
Julia Meek: Kat Hickey is an actor and nonviolence advocate and Elisiana Diaz-Martin, coordinator of marketing and development for the Center for Nonviolence. Thank you both for working this hard, for sharing your story. Many blessings on this journey.
Kat Hickey: Thanks so much. Julia.
Elisiana Diaz-Martin: Thank you.
