What I liked
I Ioved the multilingual nature of the show, and the movement pieces, which were sometimes done with long stretches of fabric. The stage set really gave a sense of imprisonment with Auntie Em sitting up high as the evil overseer from whom there was seemingly no escape. The sexual abuse was suggested through movement pieces and not graphic or exploitative.
What I didn't like
I’m hoping that Peerada continues to expand this piece. I wanted to see more!!
My overall impression
Peerada Meemalayath has expanded what was originally a one-woman show into a theater piece with 6 actors, three men and three women, on the topic of human trafficking. Through movement and dialogue in Thai, Spanish, and English, she suggests the international scope of this problem by following the plight of two young girls who have been kidnapped for use as prostitutes. They are watched over by their jailer, Auntie Em, quite different from her namesake in the Wizard of
Oz. The story of one girl is based in fact; the other is fiction. Peerada shines a light on this terrible practice, and offers discussion at the end of the play as well as information about organizations that labor to help free people from such captivity. She describes an ugly truth with grace and delicacy, and shows the indomitable nature of the human spirit under the direst of conditions.
