About The Play
Often the victim in an abusive relationship is asked:
What is wrong with you?
Why do you stay?
Why do you let yourself be treated that way?
Why don’t you just leave?”
What is wrong with you?
Why do you stay?
Why do you let yourself be treated that way?
Why don’t you just leave?”
In looking from the outside, friends and family can visualize a solution. They know something is wrong, but the victim doesn’t listen to them, doesn’t take their advice.
Susan Gordon-Clark’s journey, like many victims, was a search for the dream of perfect love. The reality of her relationship would eventually prove to be a horror of physical and psychological abuse.
Susan illustrates this experience on stage with the use of many different characters in her life at the time. She helps us understand why and how she got drawn in, bought the lies, fell in love; and eventually believed, when things went wrong, that everything was her fault. Susan doubted herself, her self-esteem eroded, she gave up control of her life, alienated friends and family and her dream became a nightmare.
When a person recognizes that they are in an abusive situation they achieve the first step to breaking free. However, breaking free is only the first step. The steps that follow can be very difficult and because of that difficulty many victims give up and return to their abusers again and again, continuing the cycle of violence and all too often losing their lives. In RED FLAGS, Susan uses her real life experiences to tell any that will listen about the warning signs that can make the difference between years of abuse, or even death, and a lifetime of freedom.
In 2015, award winning Director Veronica Caicedo, added her expertise in solo directing to RED FLAGS, creating a simple, gritty and chilling interpretation of Susan’s story. RED FLAGS manages to educate audiences, raises awareness of a situation that affects one in four women in our country, and brings the hope necessary to inspire others.
Susan Gordon-Clark’s journey, like many victims, was a search for the dream of perfect love. The reality of her relationship would eventually prove to be a horror of physical and psychological abuse.
Susan illustrates this experience on stage with the use of many different characters in her life at the time. She helps us understand why and how she got drawn in, bought the lies, fell in love; and eventually believed, when things went wrong, that everything was her fault. Susan doubted herself, her self-esteem eroded, she gave up control of her life, alienated friends and family and her dream became a nightmare.
When a person recognizes that they are in an abusive situation they achieve the first step to breaking free. However, breaking free is only the first step. The steps that follow can be very difficult and because of that difficulty many victims give up and return to their abusers again and again, continuing the cycle of violence and all too often losing their lives. In RED FLAGS, Susan uses her real life experiences to tell any that will listen about the warning signs that can make the difference between years of abuse, or even death, and a lifetime of freedom.
In 2015, award winning Director Veronica Caicedo, added her expertise in solo directing to RED FLAGS, creating a simple, gritty and chilling interpretation of Susan’s story. RED FLAGS manages to educate audiences, raises awareness of a situation that affects one in four women in our country, and brings the hope necessary to inspire others.
Timeline
- Premiere 2008- Pillowfight Theatre Festival @ Bleeker Street Theatre NYC
- Prospect Theatre Company's Dark Night Series NYC
- Englewood Presbyterian Church Adult Education Series Englewood, NJ
- Women's Club of Englewood New Jersey
- Shepherds Rest Ministries Domestic Violence Seminar, Dallas, GA
- Peoples Voice Cafe NYC
- Abingdon Theater Company's Sunday Night Series 2012 & 2014 NYC
- The ONE Festival 5/2015 NYC
- Teatro Circulo 9/2015 NYC
- United Solo Festival 11/2015 NYC
- The Schoolhouse Theater Croton Falls, NY 5/15/2016