Review: Bonnie Joy Sludikoff Shares Theatre as Therapy in BACKWARDS: A COMEDY (ABOUT TRAUMA)

Solo Performance Artist Bonnie Joy Sludikoff has spent the last 2 years performing her 2014 Hollywood Fringe Hit, That's What She Didn't Say: A True Story of Taboo, Redemption, and Musical Theatre. But always feeling she had blown the chance to have dozens of important, meaningful conversations over the last three years, she's back now with an even bolder approach that shows the collision of rape culture and pop culture from her very personal perspective.

BACKWARDS: A COMEDY (ABOUT TRAUMA) tells the story of Bailey, a rape survivor who, failed by the system, gives up and decides the world has nothing left to offer outside the confines of her apartment. Bonnie takes us along with her heroine as she is transported to a dystopian TV world where Steve from Blue's Clues tries to find clues to effectively locate a rapist, Mr. Roger's laments the amount of sex offenders in his neighborhood, and a "very dramatic" Bachelorette rose ceremony reveals what's really important. Her hysterical examination extends to several iconic TV hosts and characters, none of whom seem to "get it." "Any resemblance to the realities of how absurdly this topic is actually treated in everyday life is purely accidental," she stated. Oh sure!

Scenes are accompanied by multimedia projections created by Jared Dager who also designed the small stage lights and sound. Director Jessica Lynn Johnson guided Sludikoff with a sure hand, allowing her personal tale to unfold without really exposing any revelations about the actual event(s) that led to her revelations. Any while more would have been nice, especially since so many women who have endured the aftermath of a rape or physical abuse never speak up about it, I can understand her need to still keep some things private in her own mind.

The Greeks originally created theatre as a form of therapy for its audiences, allowing the masses to feel joy and pain as a way to cleanse the soul. Surely Sludifoff will take you on that journey with her, allowing you to experience her emotional growth through a series of comical social commentaries. While the production often seems to be in the workshop stage when it comes to continuity, her ambitious goal to break through the vagueness of same topic in her first show That's What She Didn't Say: A True Story of Taboo, Redemption, & Musical Theatre - a piece that very gently took the audience on the journey of a girl who'd survived years of sexual abuse and was trying to put her life back together - brightly shines through.

"It's hard to come out and talk about how much something destroyed you. It's hard to choose to 'go there' instead of saving face and appearing like you have your shit together when maybe you're not quite there yet. And, it's devastating when you do find the nerve to open up in an authentic way and someone reacts in a way that's hurtful or ignorant," shared Sludikoff. Kudos for her bravery to speak with satire, parody, and humor about that which others refuse to acknowledge is part of so many women's realities. The show uses theatre as therapy to its best effect.

BACKWARDS: A COMEDY (ABOUT TRAUMA)) is an official selection of this year's inaugural Outdoor Voices Festival, produced by That's What She Didn't Say- a local non-profit campaign dedicated to creating healthy conversations about topics deemed taboo, challenging or off-limits. There are currently only two scheduled performances of the play at The Lounge in Hollywood Sep 18, 7pm, and Sep 24, 8pm. The show runs about 70 minutes and will be followed by a brief talk/back with Sludikoff and Johnson, both of whom answer questions honestly about the nature of the production and goals of the Festival. Tickets are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/backwards-a-comedy-about-trauma-tickets-26915845017?aff=efbneb

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