The UC San Diego Department Of Theatre And Dance Presents HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF

The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance presents How to Defend Yourself, written by Lily Padilla and directed by Kim Rubinstein, as part of the 2018 Wagner New Play Festival.

About the play: Seven college students gather for a DIY self-defense workshop after a sorority sister is raped. They learn to use their bodies as weapons. They learn to fend off attackers. They learn "not to be a victim." Learning self-defense becomes a channel for their rage, anxiety, confusion, trauma and desire - lots of desire. HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF explores what you want, how to ask for it, and the insidious ways rape culture steals one's body and sense of belonging.

How to Defend Yourself runs May 11, 14, 16, and 17 at 7:30pm, with a 2pm matinee on May 12. Performances are at the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Theatre District on UC San Diego's campus: 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA. For information about parking, please see the website.

Tickets are $20 for regular performances. Subscriptions and group rates are available. Student tickets are $10 for regular performances. Faculty, staff, alumni and senior citizens discounts available as well. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the box office at (858) 534-4574.

The cast features Andrea Van Den Boogard (Brandi), Mary Rose Branick (Kara), Molly Adea (Nikki), Fedra Ramirez (Diana), Ariana Mahalatti (Mojdeh), Garrett Schulte (Andy), and Trevor Rinzler (Eggo).

The creative team includes Kim Rubinstein (Director), Yi-Chien Lee (Scenic Designer), Annie Le (Costume Designer), Minjoo Kim (Lighting Designer), Steve Leffue (Sound Designer), Gabe Greene (Dramaturg), Amber Dettmers (Production Stage Manager), Jamie Newcomb (Fight Choreographer) Hannah Folk (Assistant Director), Cassidy Paradis (Assistant Director), Michael Wogulis (Assistant Lighting Designer), Chad Burlin (Assistant Costume Designer), Thomas Goss (Assistant Costume Designer), Krystle Montgomery (Production Assistant) and Lily Joo (Production Assistant).

The 2018 Wagner New Play Festival at UC San Diego features world premiere productions written by our talented MFA playwrights, and directed, acted, stage-managed and designed by our nationally-acclaimed MFA companies. The plays produced in the Wagner New Plays Festival represent some of the most original and groundbreaking new voices in American theatre. The plays in this year's festival are Mothers by Anna Moench, How to Defend Yourself by Lily Padilla, SERE by Ava Geyer, 53% Of by Steph Del Rosso, Tambo and Bones by Dave Harris, The Clitorish by Mara Nelson-Greenberg, and Joshua by Ali Viterbi.

About the playwright: Lily Padilla is a third-year MFA Playwriting candidate whose plays have been performed or developed with INTAR Theatre, The 24 Hr Play Company, The Lark Play Development Center, RAW Theatrical, PLG Arts, plumage and Structure 13. She is a 2009 EmergeNYC fellow with the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Lily is co-founder of American Nightcap, a late-night play series which gathered artists from diverse NYC theater communities for condensed, energetic collaborations. Lily holds a BFA from NYU Tisch: Playwrights Horizons and the Experimental Theater Wing.

About the director: Kim Rubinstein was most recently Long Wharf Theatre's Associate Artistic Director where she directed Guys and Dolls, Midsummer Night's Dream, Private Lives, Santaland Diaries, and The Cocktail Hour. This past summer she directed Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Other regional credits include The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Portland Center Stage and San Jose Rep), Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Julius Caesar (Chicago Shakespeare), Love's Labour's Lost (Next Theatre), The Tempest (Southwest Rep), The American Plan and Eloise and Ray (Roadwoarks), Pan and Boone (Running with Scissors), Baby With The Bathwater (Roundhouse Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival), Beckett Shorts (Berkshire Theatre Festival, Splinter Group's Buckets O'Beckett Festival. She was Associate Director with Michael Mayer and Tour Director of the National Tour of Angels In America. Her other teaching credits include ten years on the acting/directing faculty at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Brown/Trinity Consortium, Wesleyan University, NTI at The O'Neill Center and an ongoing teaching gig with the School at Steppenwolf. Kim has been very active in the development of new plays and has directed many readings and workshops at places like New Dramatists and Long Wharf. Ms. Rubinstein is a recipient of the TCG/NEA directing fellowship and was nominated for the Alan Schneider Directing Award, among other awards for her directing and teaching. Upcoming projects: SANTALAND DIARIES at the Long Wharf, THE AMERICAN PLAN at The Old Globe.

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Direction of a Play - Top 3

1. Duncan MacMillan, Jeremy Herrin - Every Brilliant Thing

20% of votes

2. Joe Mantello - Death of a Salesman

17.2% of votes

3. Whitney White - Liberation

10.7% of votes

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