Note to Editors: Media can arrange to attend the Aug. 18 presentation of "Just Another Party" by calling Rebecca Brown at (303) 492-4307.
Student actors presenting the theater piece "Just Another Party" for incoming freshmen is one of many orientation activities being offered this week for new students in the CU-Boulder College of Arts and Sciences.
The college provides 10 orientation sessions for incoming freshmen and three for transfer students starting in mid-summer on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. The last orientation for out-of-state students began today and will end Aug. 19.
Every new student in the College of Arts and Sciences, CU-Boulder's largest with about 15,500 students, is expected to attend orientation before enrolling in classes. Other CU-Boulder schools and colleges each offer their own orientation sessions.
Among the many orientation activities is a student theater piece sponsored by Wardenburg Health Center's Interactive Theater Project involving two pairs of friends attending a party where lots of alcohol is consumed and a date rape situation occurs. The actors in the scene then stay in character while they discuss the issues raised in the performance with the audience.
A major goal of the performance is "to look at how we communicate with each other and how not to make assumptions about each other," said Director Rebecca Brown. Many audience members immediately focus on the legal ramifications of the incident, but one of the goals is to get them to look at the situation from a different approach, she said.
Because each of the students attended the party with a friend, the friends' behavior also is examined. One of the questions addressed is "How are we going to be good friends to the people in this scenario and how are we as a community going to prevent this from happening?" she asked.
Up to 300 students attend each performance of "Just Another Party" and it works very well with a large audience, Brown said. The piece has been presented for the past four years.
The Interactive Theater Project, founded in 1999, includes 12 students and provides performances on a variety of difficult issues impacting the campus community including racism, sexism, sexual assault and suicide.