What do you think?
Rate this book
SLUT: The Play
This edition of SLUT features the play only. SLUT: The Play offers communities and individuals the real-life insight into rape and bullying culture necessary to inspire change in the attitudes and practices surrounding girls and sexuality. SLUT: The Play creates much-needed space to discuss—openly and honestly—experiences with shaming, sex, and violence, thus providing a crucial antidote to slut culture.
- GenresPlays
72 pages, Paperback
First published February 10, 2015
5 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 5, 2021
“Slut: The Play,” by Katie Cappiello, came out of a workshop at the All-Girl Theater Company in NYC, where students were encouraged to share their experiences and give these voice through the art of performance. The high schoolers began discussing how the word slut was used as both a badge of honor and a label of shame. Some of these girls enjoyed being sexy and desired. They thought it was safe to flirt and hook up with guys they’d known all their lives, some of whom were their best friends. “Slut,” and the recently released Netflix series, “Grand Army,” based on the play, explores what happened when that line of safety was crossed by sex that wasn’t so clear-cut to the boys, but permanently changed the girl.
The play itself is solid. A high school girl, Joey, is alone on stage reporting the incident of sexual abuse to the Assistant DA as scenes from her social circle play out around her. The monologue of her report weaves together with the dialogue of the scenes, playing off one another and heightening the emotional effect. I like this device, it feels poetic, but I think this play uses too much of it – at least in the experience of reading it on the page.
The series is better than the play. It gives us more of Joey, while the side characters in the play become characters in their own right. This strengthens the depth and shadow added to Joey in the play, as well as shows the various reactions of classmates while they struggle through their own issues. It feels very real. The first episode is so cinema verite that the ambient noise distracts in outdoor scenes. But the production gets it together, and the effect is raw, honest, alive and fresh. The cast is integrated racially, not just touched up with token reps from a race here and there, and the script broaches nuanced conflicts within cultures.
The one thing the play did better than the series was give us the exact details of Joey’s sexual assault. I’m not sure why they left it so nebulous in the series, but it frustrated me because understanding felt important. I’m not sure if the writers thought vagueness would heighten the sense of instability, feel more inclusive of viewers’ real experiences, or shouldn’t matter, but I found it distracting, and kept expecting a reveal that never came. The details in the play added to my experience.
In 1997, I founded a similar group for young women, called Velvet Ink, which fell apart after four years. So the respect and admiration I have for Katie Cappiello and Meg McInerney, who founded the All-Girl Theater Company in 2007, and the bravery with which these girls revealed their experiences of sexual abuse and shared them through art, is profound and personal.
The play itself is solid. A high school girl, Joey, is alone on stage reporting the incident of sexual abuse to the Assistant DA as scenes from her social circle play out around her. The monologue of her report weaves together with the dialogue of the scenes, playing off one another and heightening the emotional effect. I like this device, it feels poetic, but I think this play uses too much of it – at least in the experience of reading it on the page.
The series is better than the play. It gives us more of Joey, while the side characters in the play become characters in their own right. This strengthens the depth and shadow added to Joey in the play, as well as shows the various reactions of classmates while they struggle through their own issues. It feels very real. The first episode is so cinema verite that the ambient noise distracts in outdoor scenes. But the production gets it together, and the effect is raw, honest, alive and fresh. The cast is integrated racially, not just touched up with token reps from a race here and there, and the script broaches nuanced conflicts within cultures.
The one thing the play did better than the series was give us the exact details of Joey’s sexual assault. I’m not sure why they left it so nebulous in the series, but it frustrated me because understanding felt important. I’m not sure if the writers thought vagueness would heighten the sense of instability, feel more inclusive of viewers’ real experiences, or shouldn’t matter, but I found it distracting, and kept expecting a reveal that never came. The details in the play added to my experience.
In 1997, I founded a similar group for young women, called Velvet Ink, which fell apart after four years. So the respect and admiration I have for Katie Cappiello and Meg McInerney, who founded the All-Girl Theater Company in 2007, and the bravery with which these girls revealed their experiences of sexual abuse and shared them through art, is profound and personal.
Read
December 22, 2021I came here after watching "Grand Army". When I saw the episode in which Joey is raped - even if I wouldn't want to, I have to admit to myself - I've been taken by a lot of doubts. I recognized that I have interiorized the "slut shaming" culture and I immediately started to discuss the topics I was doubtful with close friends. I can't say that now is all gone (probably it will never) but I want to deconstruct my thoughts and to have the control on my spontaneous reaction.
I'm more than happy to have read the play. It's way easier to go into the characters and don't otherize them. It' easier to see that I'm the slut, whatever I do I'm her. I'm thankful for the marvelous work that Katie Cappiello and the girls she has worked with have done. They've been able to show and perform all the shades of this phenomen. How it's intrinsically full of paradoxes and how it's feed by them. Without flattening the speech on a story based on only bad and good, white and black.
I'm more than happy to have read the play. It's way easier to go into the characters and don't otherize them. It' easier to see that I'm the slut, whatever I do I'm her. I'm thankful for the marvelous work that Katie Cappiello and the girls she has worked with have done. They've been able to show and perform all the shades of this phenomen. How it's intrinsically full of paradoxes and how it's feed by them. Without flattening the speech on a story based on only bad and good, white and black.
January 28, 2021
J'ai adoré lire cette pièce de théâtre. Elle est poignante et franche sur les violences sexuelles sur mineures, sur ce qu'elles peuvent représenter aux yeux des ami(e)s des victimes mais également auprès de la famille ou même du lycée. Le désespoir, la rage et le dépit sont extrêmement bien représentés !
August 25, 2023
I was going to rewatch Grand Army (and complain about the fact that it was cancelled...) and then I realized that it was based on a play so I decided to read it instead. It was phenomenal, as (if not more) heartbreaking as the show and sadly said a lot about our fucked up society. My only issue with the play is that the main character (Joey) as well as the side characters aren't as developed as they are in the show, but I still decided to give it five stars because I really liked the way it was written.
November 4, 2017
So powerful.
September 25, 2024
so this needs to be done more
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews