With statistics as high as one in five college students being sexually assaulted per year, it is safe for everyone to assume they have known at least one victim of sexual or domestic violence on campus, said Wanda Burton, the peer education coordinator of the Women’s Resource Center and co-teacher of Unscripted.

Unscripted is an interactive group of peers dedicated to educating students on the problem of oppression and interpersonal violence through the Theater of the Oppressed model, which advocates for social education and change by performing reactions of plausible situations in front of an audience.

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“I think it’s important to understand there are systems of power in place. There are ways to benefit, but some people typically have challenges that are associated with other’s benefits,” Burton said.

Last spring, 10 students were part of a class on social action and performance through New College. The Unscripted troupe is advocating to make another class next fall. Volunteer positions are currently available for this spring.

“Art speaks to a larger community,” Burton said. “[It’s] something we all have in common. It’s a new way of sharing yourself and your perspective outside of a class setting.”

Unscripted was created in 2005, derived from a group called Voices Against Violence in the University of Texas, but it was also done in other countries before the U.S.

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The Unscripted theater troupe trains small groups of 10 to 15 students on social justice issues for two hours once a week. The training session lasts for 10 weeks, and then the group can perform. It addresses all different types of oppression, but specifically covers interpersonal violence and how people cope and react. Detailed training on these issues is required so the troop is able to go out and improvise an interactive conversation with the audience.

“It allows everyone’s voice to be heard, and it allows you to see it from another perspective,” Burton said.

Unscripted trains for two basic performing methods, one being image work, and the other a form called “spect,” which is more of a forum and was dubbed by Augusto Boal, who started the Theater of the Oppressed. In both, the audience can ask questions and comment on how the actors are dealing with their situation. In image work, the actor plays a statue where they only relay body language as they work through certain scenes. In “spect,” the actors freeze and listen to the audience’s input as they suggest different ways for troupe to act out scenes. This way, the students can work through how they personally would deal with these situations in their life.

“It’s not about trying to offer a one-time solution. It’s about engaging students in conversations,” Elle Shaaban-Magana, director of the Women’s Resource Center, said.

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Last semester, Unscripted students performed at Take Back the Night in the Ferguson Theater and in several different classroom settings. Unscripted partnered with academic departments and Greek affairs for their performance at the Ferguson Theater to get more people involved. More than 100 people attended, and after the performance, the Unscripted students answered questions in the roles of the characters they played.

Students do not need theater backgrounds, and many don’t have experience, such as senior Morgan Embry, who is now a spokesperson for Unscripted.

“The natural instinct [is] to fight back, but that’s not the best form,” Embry said. “Learning ways to address it in a calm matter than doesn’t rise to conflict is the key.”

Embry’s interest in counseling through movement is one of the reasons she said took the class. Although she has no acting experience, she said she is passionate about teaching people how to maintain healthy relationships. She said her combined majors, dance and interdisciplinary studies, with a Christian perspective and emphasis on community outreach, aided her ability to improvise and teach through body language.

Both men and women are encouraged to volunteer or commit to a complete semester of training. Interested students can sign up at wrc.ua.edu/forms.cfm.