about the performance
I Want My Jacket Back is an interactive solo performance that explores new ways to think & talk about gender violence through the use of music, humor, poetry, personal narrative, & dialogue. Its unique format - solo performance pieces and facilitated dialogue with the audience throughout the entire show - invites critical reflection on the social construction of gender, sex positivity, gender violence prevention, and healing after sexual assault.
it started with a jacket
In the performance, Jenn sings a story about reclaiming sexual agency, confidence, and hope after sexual assault. Weaving together raw honesty and bits of humor, “Jean Jacket,” offers a path toward self-empowerment in the midst of loss: of agency, of power, and of safety. In Jenn’s narrative, finding a new jacket to replace the one she lost at the scene of the assault symbolizes an act of self-love, a statement of renewed confidence, and a reclamation of power.
artist statement
The goal of this show is to start dialogue about gender violence that subverts and extends the discourse surrounding it. Through solo performance pieces, I interrogate the ways gender violence has been discussed, theorized, and approached in terms of prevention. Throughout the show, I invite audience members to respond to the perspectives I have offered so that, together, we may come to a better understanding of gender violence, move toward healing, and find ways to prevent future violence.
I would describe this performance as existing at the intersection of gender violence, sexual politics, feminism, and activism. I try to balance sobering consideration of gender violence issues with the lightness, hope, and therapy that humor and music can provide. I attempt to make the performance accessible to a wide variety of audiences with varying levels of experience with and knowledge about gender violence issues: I share personal stories, perform poetry, sing songs with my guitar, and engage popular culture. I offer my own experiences with gender violence as a starting point for discussion, and I seek to create a space for honest, critical, and challenging dialogue about issues of activism, victimhood, healing, and prevention. I define and explore concepts including sexual violence, a culture of gender violence, consent, and sex-positivity. I pose questions to the audience in an effort to invite complicated and nuanced ways of engaging these concepts.
I would describe this performance as existing at the intersection of gender violence, sexual politics, feminism, and activism. I try to balance sobering consideration of gender violence issues with the lightness, hope, and therapy that humor and music can provide. I attempt to make the performance accessible to a wide variety of audiences with varying levels of experience with and knowledge about gender violence issues: I share personal stories, perform poetry, sing songs with my guitar, and engage popular culture. I offer my own experiences with gender violence as a starting point for discussion, and I seek to create a space for honest, critical, and challenging dialogue about issues of activism, victimhood, healing, and prevention. I define and explore concepts including sexual violence, a culture of gender violence, consent, and sex-positivity. I pose questions to the audience in an effort to invite complicated and nuanced ways of engaging these concepts.
