| How to Defend Yourself | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Liliana Padilla |
| Date premiered | March 13, 2019 |
| Place premiered | Actors Theatre of Louisville |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Self-defense Sexual assault Campus sexual assault |
How to Defend Yourself is a 2019 play by Liliana Padilla. The play was produced by the Actors Theatre of Louisville in 2019 and Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago in 2020. It premiered Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop in 2023. The play was the winner of the 2019 Yale Drama Series Prize.[1]
The play takes place in a college gym, where sorority leader Brandi leads a self-defense workshop, organized in response to the recent sexual assault of sorority sister Susannah. As the students learn the tenets of fending off attackers and how not to "be a victim", they begin to channel their own rage, anxieties, trauma, confusion, and desires.