Villanova Theatre Presents Hannah Khalil's THE SCAR TEST

Villanova Theatre will present The Scar Test by the award-winning Palestinian-Irish playwright Hannah Khalil, directed by Claire Moyer, and streaming March 25 - April 4. Tickets are free with a suggested donation of $10. This incendiary tale centering on the plight of asylum seekers in the United Kingdom is the third virtual production of Villanova's 2020-2021 season.

Khalil, whose creative accomplishments span from theatre to film to radio, was selected as the 2021 Charles A. Heimbold Jr. Chair of Irish Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University. For the past two decades, this visiting writer-in-residence program has offered graduate and undergraduate students the enriching experience of a close classroom experience with Ireland's finest poets, novelists, playwrights and screenwriters.

Fiercely felt and fearlessly told, The Scar Test centers on a cohort of asylum seekers who find themselves stuck in limbo, stripped of their privacy, and isolated a world away from the lives they used to know. Based on two years of interviews with detainees, Khalil's groundbreaking play offers a powerful and unflinching snapshot of life inside England's migrant detention system. For US audiences, the timely, controversial drama also mirrors our nation's fraught and fractured immigration system. Filmed with extensive safety protocols in place - including masks and social distancing - Villanova's virtual production explores themes of alienation, isolation, and the need for connection that will resonate with audiences as we pass the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an interview with The Guardian, Khalil said "there are brilliant documentaries about Yarl's Wood and detention, but with theatre you can get into people's hearts in a more visceral way." More like a prison than a refuge, Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Center is notoriously impenetrable. Khalil herself was only able to gain inside access by reaching out to charities that allowed her to befriend and connect with detainees directly. Her eye-opening journalistic approach brings to light the plight of asylum seekers by uplifting their voices and dignifying their experiences.

According to Khalil, she chose the title The Scar Test in reference to a procedure used to determine whether detainees have undergone torture in their home countries. UK laws dictate that survivors of torture cannot be held at detention centers such as Yarl's Wood. However, this superficial physical test does not account for the non-physical scars that torture and trauma leave on their victims, and as a result, vulnerable people are further harmed by the experience of detention and oppression.

With this production, Villanova Theatre transitions from its all-remote fall productions (The Bakkhai Variations and Songs for a New World) to mounting its first full play in the brand-new John and Joan Mullen Center for the Performing Arts. Strict COVID-19 safety protocols have been observed throughout the process, which has gradually transitioned from Zoom rehearsals to in-person work, culminating in a masked, socially-distanced staging in the Mullen Center's Courtyard Theatre. Director Claire Moyer has partnered with Director of Photography Michael Long to place viewers inside the setting and action, following characters in and out of bedrooms, down hallways, through metal detectors and common spaces. This stylistic approach creates a voyeuristic experience for the viewer, underscoring the palpable sense of 24/7 surveillance within the detention center.

Moyer's approach to telling the story of the detainees has been characterized by deep compassion and profound respect. The process has been "trauma informed," meaning that the creative team recognizes the intensely emotional nature of the work they're asking actors (all undergraduate or graduate students) to undertake, and have provided additional emotional and psychological support while in rehearsal and during filming. This uniquely challenging and provocative piece provided the perfect opportunity to bring in Rachel O'Hanlon-Rodriguez, a 2017 MA in Theatre graduate, as the trauma-informed performance consultant. Additionally, the Theatre Department has partnered with Professor Michele Pistone, the Director of the Center for Asylum, Refugee, and Emigrant Services (CARES) Clinic at Villanova University School of Law, as well as Margaret O'Sullivan, Executive Director of the Nationality Services Center in Philadelphia, to provide education for the cast and creative team. Audiences can view a panel with these immigration experts here.

A live, virtual Speaker's Night featuring Hannah Khalil, Claire Moyer, Villanova Theatre Artistic Director Michael Hollinger and Production Dramaturg Kate Fischer will stream March 28th at 5pm via Zoom Webinar here.

Villanova Theatre is located on the Villanova University campus in the John and Joan Mullen Center for the Performing Arts (at Lancaster & Ithan Aves.). Registration is required with a suggested donation of $10 at villanovatheatre.org/scar-test. Registrants will receive a link to a password-protected website where each video will be published after its respective release date and for the duration of its run. Please contact mullencenter@villanova.edu or by phone at 610-519-5006 if you have any questions about ticketing.

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