Inneract, a theater group based in Princeton, combines dance, music, poetry and humor in an effort to enlighten the audience about women’s issues, including domestic violence.
By: Vivian Ryle
It was just about sunset on a Sunday evening in July. Many of us were winding down from another bucolic but too-short summer weekend. Some were watering the garden, or going for a stroll before putting the kids to bed, or unpacking from a day at the beach. But others, mostly women, were seeking shelter because they were victims of domestic violence.
Women who are victims of domestic violence come from every socio-economic and ethnic background. According to New Jersey State Police statistics, there were 80,681 reported incidents of domestic violence in 1999 in New Jersey, with the highest numbers occurring on Sundays in July between the hours of 8 and 10 p.m.
Female victims were involved in 78 percent of all cases, and children were involved or present during 35 percent of those cases. Unfortunately, the numbers have decreased only marginally from previous years.
Inneract, a theater group based in Princeton, is concerned about domestic violence against women. The group, made up of three women Judy Steed, Nanette Woodworth and Janet Berkowitz combines dance, music, poetry and humor all in an effort to enlighten the audience about women’s issues, including domestic violence.
Inneract’s new show, "A Night at the Round Table," will premiere March 17 at Princeton Day School as a benefit for Womanspace, the Trenton-based organization that provides help to women in crisis and runs the emergency shelter in Mercer County.
A Night at the Round Table, a multi-media theater experience with 12 actors, explores women’s lives, past, present and future, and will run for one night only. The women brought together personal experiences and common perspectives in creating the show, and though it is clearly a combined effort, the others credit Ms. Steed with directing and producing.
"We chose to break some old rules of stage," Ms. Steed said. "A woman of size can dance a beautiful duet with a tiny partner, you can have three directors, and you can whistle backstage!"
"The show is produced, directed and written by women, about women, as they proceed on their journey through time," continued Ms. Steed. "It is about experiences and experiencing; from wholeness to brokenness to wholeness once again. Like the wheel, which is the symbol of life in many religions, the scenes run full circle, taking women from the beginning of time to the present. The performance looks at how women have changed, and how we remain the same, united and strong through all of our experiences."
Three Victorian women guide the audience members through the evening. The work combines dance, dialogue, video and live and recorded music.
Ms. Steed, Ms. Woodworth and Ms. Berkowitz met while members of the Princeton Dance Improv performance troupe, and went on to found Inneract to incorporate their various arts into a theater exerience. Ms. Woodworth has a bachelor’s degree in music with a concentration in flute and classical music. She has worked as an art teacher and storyteller, and recently completed her Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary. She is studying to be an Episcopal minister, and is director of Christian education at All Saints Church in Princeton.
Ms. Berkowitz studied theater at the Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick. Coming from a "show business family," she is a mime and clown and has performed in mental hospitals, churches, prisons and schools. She teaches drama and movement to children.
Ms. Steed incorporates performing arts and yoga in her nursery school program. She has performed with the Princeton Dance Improv Troupe since 1989, has studied improvisational theater and dance and writes and creates new material.
When the three women came together, Ms. Steed had been mourning the loss of a long-term relationship, writing to ease her pain, and Ms. Berkowitz had been battling depression. Ms. Woodworth was the mother of a toddler. "The timing was right," said Ms. Steed. "We decided to pool our creative talents and write a show about what we as women go through, and have gone through, and how we have changed and how we remain the same."
In the week leading up to the performance, "we have come full circle," says Ms. Steed. By talking about her illness, Ms. Berkowitz has helped others; Ms. Steed has found a more complete relationship; and Ms. Woodworth’s baby is now a preschooler, which has allowed her creativity to flourish. "By telling our stories, we hope that women can begin to heal themselves," said Ms. Steed.
Womanspace was founded in 1977 at the height of the women’s movement by a group from the Mercer County Commission on the Status of Women, which included ex-Princeton mayor Barbara Boggs Sigmund, who asked the question, "What do women in Mercer County want?"
Today, Womanspace provides educational, counseling, legal, housing and emergency services to women in crisis, many of whom are victims of domestic violence. As a non-profit organization, Womanspace receives most of its funding from the State government, while the rest comes from private sources.
Womanspace operates on a sliding scale fee so that no woman is ever turned away for lack of ability to pay. There are two drop-in groups available for counseling, one of which is Spanish speaking. There is also a Womanspace counselor available at the clinic at Princeton Hospital on Monday mornings from 8 to 11:30 a.m.
Womanspace has an emergency hotline as well as an emergency shelter in a confidential location in Mercer County. Womanspace offers crisis intervention for victims of domestic violence that, according to Judy Ferlise, director of counseling and support, involves being with a client to help the client through the immediate situation.
"This could be talking, calming them down, making plans to go to a shelter, making a police report," explained Ms. Ferlise. "In other words, trying to resolve the immediate crisis."
Susan Switlik, director of development, said that for victims of domestic violence, leaving the situation is not the complete answer. "She may not feel safe to leave, or she may not know what will happen to her once she leaves."
Womanspace tries to do what is best for each individual client by providing them with enough information, resources and counseling so that they can make their own decisions, Ms. Switlik said. "Some women," she added, "choose to come in for counseling once a week while remaining at home, and hope to work out solutions that way."
Once a client is ready to leave, Womanspace provides transitional housing for up to two years in its Next Step Program for women and their children. The goal is to help these women become financially independent. The program does this through help with child care, job training and counseling in preparing families for future independent living.
"But people should know that getting help initially or counseling is not about leaving," Ms. Ferlise emphasized, adding that those who reach the Next Step Program have usually been through extensive counseling. "I hear that all the time," she said. "’I thought I couldn’t come to you unless I’d made a decision to leave.’ We are not here to make them leave. We are here to listen, to help, to give information and support."
Victims of domestic violence can call the 24-hour Womanspace hotline for shelter or emergency assistance in Mercer County at (609) 394-9000. The toll-free number for information and referral throughout the State of New Jersey is (800) 572-safe (7233).
"A Night at the Round Table" will be held Saturday, March 17, at the Princeton Day School McAneny Theater. PDS is on the Great Road in Princeton. Tickets are $15 and $12 in advance, and $12 for students and seniors. For tickets and information, call (609) 799-4257, or (732) 246-4872. All money raised will be donated to Womanspace.