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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Performance Focuses on Trafficked Women

(Worcester, MA – April 5, 2004) Around the world each year, millions of women are trafficked into prostitution, domestic slavery, and forced industrial labor, with some ultimately brought into Massachusetts. Bringing awareness to this horrific trend, Body and Sold, Part 1:  South Asia, a performance by Tempest Productions', traces the tragic yet heroic stories of women who were sold into prostitution in South Asia and later escaped. The performance will be at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 21, 2004 in the Administration Theater (2^nd Floor, Administration Building) at Worcester State College.

Written and directed by Deborah Fortson, the play is based closely on the lives of real women.  The dialogue includes lines from their actual testimonies, giving the performance great power and immediacy.  The play focuses on both the women's enslavement and its complex aftermath.  The cast will also read from Part 2 of the play, including narratives of women trafficked in the United States.

There will be a panel discussion following the play at 8:30 p.m.  The panel of experts will include Deborah Fortson, acclaimed writer and director of Body and Sold; Carol Gomez, victim advocate for the Victims of Violence Program of the Cambridge Health Alliance and a leading expert on trafficking issue globally and in Massachusetts; Myrna Balk, Brookline-based artist who has put together an art exhibition featuring works by trafficked women as well as her own works on the issue; and Lori Dawson Ph.D., associate professor in the WSC Department of Philosophy and expert on issues of victim trauma. The panel will be moderated by Kristin Waters, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Women's Studies Program at WSC.

In the theater foyer, Myrna Balk will exhibit her art and others by trafficked women.  It was seeing the exhibition of this work that motivated Fortson to create Body and Sold.

The program is offered by the Worcester State College Office of the President, Office of Diversity, Women's Studies Program, and Center for the Study of Human Rights.

The performance and panel are free and open to the public.  Seating is limited, so early arrival is suggested.  For more information, call 508-929-8612.

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