Thursday, March 28, 2024

Unveiling the mask

“The victims of trafficking are children,” said Edmund Lingan, reflecting upon the issue of modern day slavery. “The youngest account I’ve seen is from someone who started at 13 years old.” 

Globally, it is estimated that there are 4.5 million people trapped in forced sexual exploitation. In 2014, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimated that one in six  runaways were likely sex trafficking victims, according to Polaris, an organization committed to the eradication of  this modern slavery.

While these statistics reflect the extent of the problem, they do not truly illustrate the depth of the issue. To raise awareness and  to direct progress to this issue,  a collaborative performance, “Masks”, between the Glacity Theatre Collective and the Toledo Ballet will tell the harrowing stories of these young victims. This collaboration is the result of two years of production between Lingan and Ann Heckler, choreographer with the Toledo Ballet. 

“Masks” will address the issue of human trafficking in the form of docu-dance during the first weekend of June. 

Bringing to light 

Heckler became emotionally involved with the crisis when she began teaching a dance class for Second Chance (secondchancetoledo.org), a Toledo program to assist prostitution and trafficking victims. During these lessons, Heckler realized that the girls were unable to focus on dance, instead being overcome by their endured trauma.

Heckler attended the annual UT Human Trafficking Conference last September and was inspired by a trafficking survivor therapy involving masks. During the therapy session, “they have the girl make a mask, and on the inside they put what they really feel about themselves, and the outside represents how she perceives that she’s seen by others –  johns or customers,” Heckler says. 

After conversation with Lingan, she decided to address the issue from an artistic point-of-view. 

Setting the stage 

Lingan pieced the script together using anonymous, first-person accounts collected from girls who have been involved in trafficking, creating the documentary-like style of the performance. 

Their stories will be told by an off-stage narrator while contemporary dance occupies the stage through Heckler’s classical choreography. Lee Heritage, Associate Professor of Music at UT, a collaborator with Glacity, composed the score for the performance. 

The show opens with “regular looking girls” who then become masked by either their johns or themselves. 

“When a girl is in this cycle, when she becomes a victim, she can’t possibly get through it without pretending to be someone else, so the mask is protecting her true self,” Heckler adds.  

Unmask and empower

“Masks” intends to educate the audience about the path to trafficking, instead of simply focusing on the emotional impact, so the audience members can look at trafficking from a different perspective. 

“We don’t want the audience to look at what’s happening to the victims and get so caught up emotionally in what they’re saying and what happens to them that they don’t take a step back to look at how the system operates,” Lingan states, “so that they can recognize it and report it when they see it.” 

Hearing the stories of survival and searching for preventative measures is empowering— which is exactly what Lingan and Heckler intend. Unmask these stories during one of the two special performances. 

7:30pm, with a talkback to follow,
on Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6. $10.
UT Center for Performing Arts’ Studio Theatre, located at the corner of Towerview Blvd. &
Campus Drive West on the University’s Main Campus. utoledo.edu glacity.com toledoballet.net 

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