HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF Cast & Creatives Announced

We’re excited to announce the full cast and creative team for How To Defend Yourself, written by Liliana Padilla and co-directed by Rachel Chavkin, Liliana Padilla and Steph Paul.

The cast features Amaya Braganza, Sebastian Delascasas, Jayson Lee, Ariana Mahallati, Teagan Meredith, Gabriela Ortega, Sarah Marie Rodriguez and Talia Ryder.

The creative team includes You-Shin Chen (Scenic Design), Izumi Inaba (Costume Design), Stacey Derosier (Lighting Design), Mikhail Fiksel (Sound Design), Cindy Tolan, Erica Hart & Nicholas Petrovich (Casting), Rocio Mendez (Fight Director), Ann James (Intimacy Coordinator), Dawn-Elin Fraser (Vocal Coach) and Katie Young (Stage Manager).

I wish girls fought more. Like beat the shit out of each other for fun. I wish that was like a socially acceptable thing to do. Fight club, you know? If it was me and you, I think I’d win.

In a DIY self-defense class, college students learn to use their bodies as weapons. They learn to fend off attackers. They learn “not to be a victim.” Self-defense becomes a channel for their rage, anxiety, confusion, trauma and desire—lots of desire.

-You asked how I like it, that’s how I like it.

          -Maybe you can interrogate why you like that.

-Maybe you can interrogate why it scares you.

With sharp humor and brutal honesty, Liliana Padilla’s How to Defend Yourself explores what we want, how to ask for it, and the violator and violated inside us all. Tony Award-winning NYTW Usual Suspect Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown), Susan Smith Blackburn finalist Liliana Padilla (TWITCH) and Princess Grace Award winner Steph Paul (The Last Match) will co-direct the production.

How to Defend Yourself discusses but does not depict sex and sexual violence.

Fore more information and to get tickets, click here.

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Categories: 2022/23 Season. Tags: How To Defend Yourself, Liliana Padilla, Rachel Chavkin, and Steph Paul.