The Sexual Violence Prevention Team will be partnering up with the department of theatre arts for the second “Sexual Violence Talk Show.” The performance is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Lecture Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

The show will be presenting important concepts, considerations, facts and ideas about sexual violence including key definitions, resources on campus and in the community, reporting options, ways to support friends and loved ones who have been affected and ways to intervene when confronting a scenario of sexual violence.

As students walk into the show they will be handed a notecard to write down questions to ask after the performance. At the end of the skit there will be a counselor from Eastern’s Counseling Center to take questions and talk about the services available on campus.

After attendees are introduced to the counselor, everyone will have a notecard that says true and false which will be used to answer questions about sexual assault prevention.

Lindsay Wilson, the interim assistant director of Sexual Assault Prevention, said this year the two groups added an activity to make the show more interactive with the audience.

“I think it is helpful to have a variety of avenues in educating the college campus. We have a consent presentation, Haven, an online program, and various other outreach efforts made to increase awareness of sexual violence. This is just another avenue used to do so,” Wilson said. “Everyone has different learning styles and may be more apt to retain information based on the avenue used. Some individuals may be more inclined to attend or engage if it is a form of entertainment versus a lecture or Power Point.”

In addition to the play on sexual assault prevention, Melany Zwilling, the Health Education Resource Center’s sexual health educator, along with other Eastern staff, will be informing attendees of the “It’s On Us” campaign and how students can take the pledge.

“I believe the play itself is an effort to prevent sexual assault. Anything that increases awareness and education is a preventative measure,” Wilson said. “This will certainly be a platform to allow further discussion of ways to intervene in similar situations.”

The talk show will be free for anyone to attend.

“It is important to have events like this, not only to increase awareness, but as symbol of support to survivors,” Wilson said.

Abbey Whittington can be reached at 581-2812 or anwhittington@eiu.edu