The Scarlet “S” (TSS) is an original, ensemble-devised play and extended community project about the intersections of consent, technology, hyper masculinity, and shame when it comes to groupthink sexual assaults like Steubenville, Maryville, Vanderbilt, and others. The story is familiar: an epidemic spread across our news outlets and Facebook feeds. As artists and activists, we must ask, WHAT NOW?

Our mission is this: We want to use art and activism to support survivors of assault, examine the larger culture that perpetuates violence, and increase empathy in our community for all men and women adversely impacted by systems of silence and shame.

Conceived in 2014 by theatre artist and sexuality educator Alyssa Vera Ramos (TSS director) & mental health worker Cathy Muskett (TSS head writer), The Scarlet “S” Project, in addition to ensemble-devised playmaking, encompasses youth workshops and “social norms” social media and bar culture campaigns about the issues of consent and “slut”-shaming. TSS also invites our community to join our process of collecting stories and dialoguing with people of all kinds at our #WHATNOWSeries, which houses community building and difficult dialogues around current events, rape culture and the role we play, and what we can do NOW to make our world safer and more consensual.

The Scarlet “S” aims to create safe space in our rehearsals and for our audiences as we explore these complicated, emotional topics together, always keeping pleasure, humor and open dialogue at the forefront. We’re currently in the process of honing the play script after a public workshop performance in November 2014, Join us for the full-length production of The Scarlet “S,” which will premiere in April 2015 at Free Street Theater during Sexual Assault Awareness Month.