Division News & Statements
Anti-violence peer theater troupe to help define healthy relationships for students during event
February 08, 2018
(This story originally appeared on GVNext)
Love is in the air with Valentine's Day around the corner, and a group of Grand Valley students are striving to help their classmates understand how to define healthy relationships - from friendships to romance.
ReACT!, Grand Valley's anti-violence peer theater troupe, will present "Like, Love, Lust, or Bust!: ReACT! Presents Healthy Relationships for College Students" on February 12 from 9-10 p.m. in the Kirkhof Center's Pere Marquette Room (2204).
Rachel Moore, a ReACT! cast member and student facilitator for the program, said the interactive and educational event will leave students equipped with useful information about developing and nurturing relationships.
"ReACT! needed to talk about this issue because most people can't tell the difference between various healthy and unhealthy relationship behavior," said Moore, a sophomore majoring in accounting and human resources management. "But, when things start to shift into the grey areas, we start to have trouble. ReACT! is here to help decipher between the grey areas and offer other factors to consider when trying to decide if a relationship is healthy or not."
The event will also include a discussion about recent news stories that have emerged regarding the #MeToo movement.
ReACT! student actors are trained in interactive theater programming that is aimed at preventing incidents of violence against women, including dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking crimes on campus.
Moore said she believes the troupe makes Grand Valley a safer community for students to learn and live in.
"I am a survivor, and my goal and the reason I am involved in ReACT! is to make sure that nobody ever has to go through that," said Moore. "I love educating my fellow peers about this problem that is engrained into our society."
ReACT! was created through a partnership between Grand Valley's Gayle R. Davis Center for Women and Gender Equity and theater program, and receives funding from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Violence Against Women. Since the group's premiere in 2010, ReACT! students have performed for thousands of college students and social services providers around Michigan.
For more information about ReACT!, visit gvsu.edu/theatre.
For More Information Contact: Matthew Makowski in University Communications - (616) 331-2228