‘Seven’ to Bring Stories of Real-Life Heroines to Betts Theatre

Based on interviews with women who have fought for change in their home countries around the world, two versions of the acclaimed documentary play “Seven” are coming to the George Washington University next week.

“Seven,” written by seven award-winning female playwrights, tells the story of seven women in the Vital Voices Global Leadership Network, a nonprofit organization that seeks to identify and empower female leaders around the world. The women profiled in “Seven” have fought overwhelming obstacles to combat sexual assault, domestic violence, sex trafficking and other abuses in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Cambodia, Russia, Nigeria and Guatemala.

After years expanding the play’s international reach, Swedish producer Hedda Krausz Sjögren, in collaboration with GW’s Global Women’s Institute (GWI) and the Department of Theatre and Dance, is bringing the performance to GW April 27. Leaders in politics and the arts will chronicle these women’s stories in a dramatic performance, directed by Theatre Professor Leslie Jacobson.

The performers are:

• Christine M. Cerna, human rights specialist, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States
• Björn Lyrvall, Swedish ambassador to the United States
• John Podesta, chairman, 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign
• Susan Stamberg, special correspondent, NPR
• Tom Wheeler, chairman, Federal Communications Commission
• Col. Litonya Wilson, deputy director, Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office

Filmmakers also will film the performance for an upcoming documentary produced by Ms. Sjögren and Hedda Produktion, a production company in Stockholm.

“We have witnessed the tremendous power this play has to effect social change,” Ms. Sjögren said. “I’m thrilled to have such extraordinary partners working with us now to extend the impact of ‘Seven’ with a film and civic engagement campaign that can reach beyond the limits of the stage to new audiences who need to hear the play’s messages.”

On April 28, local performers will stage a D.C. twist on the international play. Created by Dr. Jacobson, “D.C. Seven” explores the different ways in which women become agents of change.

The play will focus on the stories of women from local organizations, including Identity, the Jewish Coalition-Domestic Violence, Sasha Bruce Youthwork, Street Sense, Tahirih, FAIR Girls and GW’s Students Against Sexual Assault (SASA).

The performers are:

• Kimya Forouzan, member, GW SASA
• Cynthia Mewborn, vendor, Street Sense
• Tatiana Murillo, finance assistant, Identity
• Andrea Powell, founder and executive director, FAIR Girls
• Archi Pyati, director of policy and programs, Tahirih Justice Center
• Deborah Shore, founder and executive director, Sasha Bruce Youthwork
• Teresa Tomassoni, director of programs, FAIR Girls
• Maya Weinstein, policy coordinator, GW SASA
• Angie Whitehurst, vendor, Street Sense
• Barbara Zakheim, founder, Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse

“This piece reveals the stories of women who have survived abuses and injustices in our own community and have become agents of change,” said GWI Director Mary Ellsberg. “It will bring awareness to the fight against human rights violations that exist in our own nation.”