Waiting For Rosalie

Buddy Elledge

Last Friday, April 20, I went to Rainier Valley Cultural Center to see ADWAS's 2012 Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) production, "Waiting For Rosalie" directed by Dawn Stoyanoff and written by Elena Hartwell. The play opens with a friend of Rosalie who is waiting for her, but in the meantime, she hung out with the landlord of the apartment complex and saw all the drama surrounding the tenants, including sexual assault and domestic violence. Each tenant has their own story.  One is afraid to leave her abusive husband, a teenage girl dealing with the fallout after her boyfriend posts online a nude picture of her that goes viral, a mom encouraging her daughter to file a complaint against her boss for sexual harassment despite social pressure, and someone encouraging his scared roommate to get professional help.

 While all the tenants were busy with their lives, the landlord, Maisy was clueless, until Rosalie’s friend noticed and shared her observations and her knowledge of the goings on with her. The morale of the production: Be aware of what is going on around you, help out, don’t be afraid to get help and most importantly, you are not ALONE.

 It is a great story with a surprise ending which Rosalie is outed as a transgender person.

Thank you to Rhonda Cochran, Seth Greene Cox-Ziegler, Kim Fulwiler, Elena Hartwell, Andrea Nelson, David Alan Morrison, Elizabeth Rothman, Dawn Stoyanoff, and Napal Tesfai for raising awareness about sexual violence and educating us about how to prevent sexual assault. We are looking forward to next year’s SAAM production!