Add Verb’s Cathy Plourde to bring ‘You the Man’ to Victoria, Australia

Cathy Plourde, adjunct assistant professor of integrated health sciences and director of Add Verb Productions, will bring the play “You the Man,” a piece about male violence, on tour in Victoria, Australia, in May of 2013.

Plourde will visit with women’s leadership organizations, city councils, and violence prevention agencies throughout Victoria, presenting the play as an innovation that could be implemented with recent funding for domestic/dating violence prevention from Victoria’s Department of Justice.

Dr. Ann Taket of Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, a world-known domestic violence and medical professions education resource, will arrange for Plourde to visit Deakin University’s four city campuses in Burwood, Melbourne, Geelong, and Warrnambool, where she will present the play and facilitate discussions about the potential use of theatrical approaches to prevent domestic/dating violence in Victoria.

“You the Man” is a 30 minute play that is professionally performed by one actor, featuring five male characters whose lives are impacted by violence committed by other men around them. Written by Plourde, it has been presented in U.S. high schools and colleges since 2002, and it has been the subject of a longitudinal study measuring both increase of awareness and likelihood to intervene as a bystander.

Add Verb Productions was founded in 2000 with a mission of using theater and story for health, wellness and activism.