Tight End by Rachel Bykowski

Tight End is presented in collaboration with El Tendedero/The Clothesline Indiana, a year-long initiative hosted by Women4Change and the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault that will increase awareness of violence against women and persuade the Indiana General Assembly to enact legislation that defines consent. It is the story of a female high school student playing football for her school’s team. Although she becomes “one of the guys” to her teammates, opposing teams have a different view. When an attack at an annual party threatens to take her out of the game, she takes back her life and her body on her own terms to finish what she started.

The reading will be performed by Equity actors Jolene Mentink Moffatt and Phoenix Theatre Artistic Director Bill Simmons, and Indiana University MFA Acting Program students Peter Ruiz and Isabelle Gardo. Playwright Bykowski, a Chicago native whose plays explore the many facets of womanhood, will attend the reading. Following the reading Bykowski will join Anderson, the cast members, and representatives of Women4Change and the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault for a discussion of the play and its themes. Before the reading, attendees are invited to the Phoenix Theatre’s lobby starting at 6 p.m. to view the traveling clothesline exhibit and to add their own stories to the discussion about violence against women.