In May of 2016, Heather Marlowe was sexually assaulted. After completing a sexual assault evidence collection, or “rape kit”, she waited almost two years for results only to find that her kit was one of thousands to go untested by the San Francisco Police Department. Marlowe’s story, which caught the attention of major news outlets like ABC7 as well as the nation at large, led to the San Francisco Police Department to develop a protocol for testing future rape kits. This experience is the subject of Haze.
The one-woman show is said to discuss “how survivors of rape are mistreated and re-victimized within in our legal systems and how these systemic failures have resulted in our country having 400,000 ignored rape cases”.
This topic is relevant to all college campuses, including Northwestern. In 2015 alone, eight on-campus rapes were reported to Northwestern. This is something recognized by the four on-campus organizations bringing this performance to students: CAPS, the Sociology Department, ASG, and Alpha Chi Omega.
“We felt that bringing something to campus for free for people to engage with this kind of issue is an artistic way is really an opportunity to delve deeper into these issues," stated Jamie Joeyen-Waldorf, Communications junior and Alpha Chi Omega’s vice president of philanthropy. She expressed the importance of keeping the conversation at Northwestern about sexual assault going by pointing out that, “Any time we can expose one new person or a few people to this issue that might not have thought about it in this way before, that’s very important… especially with new students coming along as well”.
The performance, which runs for 60 minutes, and Q&A will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 pm on Friday, October 14th in Cahn Auditorium. Admission is free for all who attend and there will be professional staff onsite for counseling, if needed.