HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF at Stray Cat Theatre

Liliana Padilla's Award-Winning Play HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF Explodes Onto Stray Cat Stage with Raw Power and Fierce Urgency

The Yale Drama Series Prize-winning drama that critics call "a game-changer" and "potent and important work" punches through the silence surrounding campus sexual assault with brutal honesty, surprising humor, and transformative hope.

When seven college students gather for a DIY self-defense workshop after their sorority sister is sexually assaulted, they expect to learn how to throw punches and escape attackers. What they discover instead is far more dangerous: the insidious ways rape culture has already claimed their bodies, their desires, and their sense of belonging. As these young women channel their rage, trauma, and unexpected desire through physical combat, they must confront the question that haunts every survivor—how do you reclaim what was never yours to begin with?

Padilla's groundbreaking play refuses to tell the single story of sexual assault. Instead, it delivers a love letter to survival that pulses with the messy contradictions of healing: humor alongside horror, desire tangled with fear, and the revolutionary possibility that transformation can emerge from collective pain.

HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF
by Liliana Padilla
directed by Elizabeth Broeder
February 13 - 28, 2026

Seven college students gather for a DIY self-defense workshop after a sorority sister is sexually assaulted. They learn how to “not be a victim,” how to use their bodies as weapons, how to fend off attackers. With sharp humor and brutal honesty, HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF explores what we want, how to ask for it, and how to heal in an impossibly violent world.

“Profound, funny and shocking.” – The Daily Beast

CONTENT WARNING:
This play deals with themes of sexual violence including frank discussions of physical violence, sex, and sexual assault utilizing explicit language. Strobe lights and simulated smoking devices (vape pens) are used during the production.

WHEN: 
FRIDAY 2.13.26 at 7:30pm – OFFICIAL OPENING NIGHT
SATURDAY 2.14.26 at 7:30pm
SUNDAY 2.15.26 at 2:00pm 

THURSDAY 2.19.26 at 7:30pm
FRIDAY 2.20.26 at 7:30pm
SATURDAY 2.21.26 at 7:30pm
SUNDAY 2.22.26 at 2:00pm

WEDNESDAY 2.25.26  at 7:30pm
THURSDAY 2.26.26 at 7:30pm
FRIDAY 2.27.26 at 7:30pm
SATURDAY 2.28.26 at 7:30pm - CLOSING PERFORMANCE

WHERE:       
Tempe Center for the Arts
STUDIO THEATRE 
700 W Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe, AZ  85281
PLENTY OF FREE PARKING AVAILABLE!**

**THE PARKING GARAGE RIGHT NEXT TO THE VENUE IS OPEN. ALL PATRONS WILL RECEIVE COMPLIMENTARY VALIDATION.

TICKETS: 
$40 ADULTS
$35 SENIORS 65+
$30 STUDENTS W/ VALID, CURRENT ID
$25 GROUPS 10+
prices do not include service or convenience fees

Buy online 24/7 at http://straycattheatre.org or call 480.350.2822

CAST: Featuring an entire cast of fierce young artists all making their Stray Cat debut!

BRANDI - Christine Ward (Stray Cat DEBUT) 

KARA - Hanna Nur (Stray Cat DEBUT) 

MOJDEH - Mantra Rostami (Stray Cat DEBUT) 

DIANA - Meghan Ramos (Stray Cat DEBUT) 

NIKKI - Angelica Saario (Stray Cat DEBUT) 

ANDY - Griffin Slivka (Stray Cat DEBUT) 

EGGO - Payten McLeod (Stray Cat DEBUT) 

Authors

• Liliana Padilla