"Survivors as Leaders in the Fight to End Sexual Violence" By Leila Zainab, Co-Director of Survivor Theatre Project

Being a sexual violence survivor is not synonymous with leadership. Often times, we view victims of violence as weak, wounded, broken, and traumatized. Survivors are forced to hide their histories of child sexual abuse, incest, or rape in their work places, dismissed to contend with their healing on their own time. Even when it is a prominent reason why one does the work that they do, they are forced to keep their identity under wraps for fear of making others uncomfortable, and being seen as unprofessional. Some survivors might even fear a negative backlash by their co-workers or superiors for coming out as a survivor, as it could be seen as detrimental to their work ethic or unbiased professionalism. Survivor identity is marginalized, taboo, and not a welcomed piece of anyone’s narrative in work spaces. Survivor Theatre Project does our best to uplift survivors in our organization, especially those that support and participate in our programs.

We have quite a few of these stories within Survivor Theatre Project. Kaia Jackson started off as a participant in the 2012 Performance Project, and is currently staffing Holyoke’s Performance Project as program assistant to co-facilitators Iréne Shaikly and Melissa Redwin. As a young professional in the field of performing arts and healing, Kaia is hungry for leadership opportunities.

“It is healing to be in survivor identified space, and it is rare! It is something I want to continue to support, advocate for, and work to create opportunities for others.”

Kaia studied at Hampshire College, with a concentration in theatre and identity studies. She was interested in learning about performance as a healing tool. Kaia developed her own piece entitled “Let the Body Speak,” a performance that invited people of all genders to speak to their own complex experiences of trauma with their body.

“As a survivor, it is scary to step into leadership. At STP, it is incredible not to feel alone in this work, that my skills are valued. Growing up, being a survivor felt like a weakness. Here, my survivor story is viewed as part of my strength.”

At Survivor Theatre Project, we believe that survivors have the power and capacity to lead the movement to end sexual violence, and to envision a path towards liberation.  We are committed to supporting survivors in taking on leadership roles because we believe that we are capable, strong, rational, and know first hand what survivors need. In doing so, we disrupt elitist models of professionalism, creating an organizational culture of trust, acceptance, community support, and healing for participants, volunteers, folks on our Leadership Team, and our staff. Together, we fight white supremacist patriarchal structures that attempt to hide and isolate us.  We are leading the way towards our collective freedom.