Silhouettes

A dramatic presentation

Silhouettes

The following is a variation of a script originally produced by the Wilder Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota for use with their "Silhouettes" display. The display is a collection of plywood, free-standing, life-size cut-outs of human figures, ... both sexes, various ages and sizes. They were made simply by tracing real people onto the plywood.  

A very effective presentation is to arrange the figures at the front of a darkened room and to have someone with a spotlight or flashlight shine the light in turn at each of the silhouettes, while each voice is read by a different person.  If possible, recruit the characters from your audience in advance.  (Another presentation option is to hang a sheet at the front of the room and backlight it with your characters standing between the light and the sheet.)

The following variation of the script was produced by the Minnesota Crime Prevention Officers Association for use at a training conference. Adapt the script for your own audience -  or ask audience members ahead of time to prepare one piece of the script.

(    )   LITTLE GIRL   Narrator: Violence is actions and words that hurt people.	My name is Kelly. The people who used to be my parents were ashamed of me because I was slow. They kept me chained to my bed.  The neighbor found out and called someone. I'm getting a new family who will take better care of me.
(    )   WOMAN   Narrator: Violence is any action that is an abuse a/power and where the intent is to control by causing fear, pain, or hurt.	My name is Mary. My husband is a military officer. He accuses me of flirting with other men and he slaps me around. I used to believe he must really love me to be so jealous. Now I realize it's just important to him to have control over everyone in his life. I'm ashamed to tell anyone about what's happening to me.... They wouldn't believe me.
(    )    MAN   Narrator: Physical violence is hurting a person's body or the things a person cares about.	My name was Roy. I owned a small grocery store for 32 years and worked long hours keeping it going. One day some teenagers came in and asked for cigarettes. I turned around towards them and one was pointing a gun at me. I pleaded with them not to hurt me because I had a family. They trashed my store while I watched helplessly. Then they took the money from the cash register and the one with the gun pointed it towards my chest and pulled the trigger. I died instantly.
(    )    ELDERLY WOMAN   Narrator: Verbal violence is using words to humiliate or intimidate a person.	My name is Esther. My daughter just moved in with me. She left her husband who was beating her. She has started to drink a lot recently. When she's drunk she tells me I'm stupid, old, and good for nothing. Sometimes she hits me. I don't want to kick her out because she has nowhere else to go.
(    )    YOUNG WOMAN   Narrator: Any sexual contact between an adult and a child is sexual violence.	My name is Jessica. One of my earliest memories is the "secret game" Daddy used to play with me at bedtime. I didn't like the way he touched me, but he said it was his way of showing that he loved me. When I got older and realized that what he was doing was wrong, I told my Morn, but she said I must be dreaming it. Daddy would never do such a thing and if I talked about it any more she was going to punish me. ... People TALK about love, but I don't believe it any more.
(    )    DEPUTY SHERIFF   Narrator: Physical violence is hurting a person's body.	My name was Deputy Morrow. I loved my job as a deputy sheriff. My home town held the largest parade in its history in my honor. One night in the summer of 1990, I pulled over a suspected drunk driver, a man I'd dealt with many times before. While I was talking with him he grabbed my flashlight and smashed me over the head with it. He left me dying in a pool of my own blood at the side of the highway. Isn't it a shame that the town's biggest-ever parade was for my funeral.
(    )    OFFICE WORKER   Narrator: Sexual harassment is violence.	My name is Terry. I really liked my job until my supervisor started to make comments about my body. It only happened when we were alone. He asked me a few times to go out on a date with him. I told him I wasn't interested. A couple of times he even tried to kiss me or grab me. I finally got so upset that I quit my job. I couldn't take it anymore. Everyone else in the office thought he was such a great guy.
(    )    TEENAGER   Narrator: Sexual violence is forced or coerced sexual touching.	My name is Ellen. It was the first date I had ever been on. I thought Dan was such a nice guy and I thought I could trust him. He was on the football team and a member of student council. I told him after the movie I had to go home. He drove out beyond my house to a rural area. He said he had paid for my movie and now I had to pay him back. He raped me in the car.
(    )    CHILD REACHING OUT   Narrator: Societal violence occurs when our nation, institutions and media portray violence as a method of resolving conflict, expressing anger, and controlling others.	My name is Josh. I'm the smallest one in my class at school. The other kids pick on me and tease me a lot, especially Tommy. He's a real bully. He watches a lot of cartoons and TV shows about karate and he thinks he's some kind of karate expert. When we play games on the playground, he argues about the rules and then punches and kicks anyone who disagrees. My Morn says it's just a part of growing up that I have to work through and Dad says I shouldn't be such a wimp... I should hit Tommy back. I'm tired of being afraid.
(    )    BABY   Narrator: Violence is a learned behavior.   It can be unlearned.	My name was Alison. I was 2 months old when I died. My parents were only 16 years old when I was born. I guess I cried a lot. One day my Morn and I were alone and I was crying. She yelled at me, threw me in the crib and when that didn't stop the crying she shook me. I died a few hours later. ...I wonder if her Morn or Dad ever did that to her?
(    )    POLICE OFFICER   (Shine the light on a real person, real officer in uniform if possible.)	My name is............ I'm a police officer and I'm tired of dealing with, and cleaning up after, the violence I see every day in my job. I'm tired of the lack of respect for property, the lack of respect for one another and the lack of respect for human life. I'm tired of the movies, television, music, and video games that glamorize violence and destruction without showing its consequences. Where does it all end? Where does the change begin?  Turn the lights out.  After a moment, turn the lights on and remind people that "it starts right here, with people just like you."