down under and all over me
by Ruochen Shen
Ruochen is currently in her second last semester in college pursuing a BA in Performance Studies. With a love for contemporary art and books, she is a freelance writer and actor. Her main research interests lie in dramaturgy, mise-en-scène, hauntology, and psychoanalysis. In her spare time, Ruochen is a museum-goer, ex-rock’n’roll fan, and home cook. Her writing style is most likely to be described as dark, caffeinated, and operatic.
"Down Under and All Over Me"
When I was a freshman moving to NYC the first time, I had a traumatic experience with the college hook-up scene. I was constantly being reminded of my race and my assigned gender role by the other party in those scenarios. Later, I was able to take this conversation out of the therapy room, engaging in discussions on sexuality and power with female filmmakers and queer artists. From a retrospective point of view, such experience unlocked something profound for me and shaped the type of work I create. Viewing those failed hook-up acts as performance allows me to resist living in privileged ones’ shadow and recognize how sexual aggression impacts social behaviors. This play intends to incorporate a confessional and self-revealing quality to it, as multiple lines are quotes from dialogues I had in real life.