When it happens to you – london
When It Happens To You is based on Ms. O’Dell’s memoir about the unquantifiable damage her daughter suffered following a brutal sexual assault. The London Production debuted in August of 2024. When It Happens To You for a video capture is to be used as an “Orientation Piece” for incoming college students at universities here in the United States and abroad. The reception of the play and the power of its message can help reduce the alarming statistics of sexual assault at universities throughout the land.
london trailer
thoughts from the writer
.My sunshine baby. That’s how I’ve always seen her. My daughter was born on a flawless azure summer day. When she was brought to me in the middle of the night for some alone time, she was swaddled so tightly all I could see of her were these big dark eyes that would eventually turn as blue as her birthday sky. I stared down at her, and she stared up at me, and she saw me. I was stunned by this realization. She was only eight hours old, but she knew who I was. She didn’t know the word yet, but she knew I was her mom and she knew what that meant: I was The Source. I was love, sustenance, wisdom and most of all, safety.
I gazed into those eyes full of instinctive trust and silently promised all those things to her. It was our first night together. I couldn’t know there would be another night in our future when I would fail in my promise to protect her, a night when I’d receive that horrible phone call all parents dread. Not the worst one. The second worst. My child would get to keep her life, but she would lose herself.
I’ve spent my life carving out a career as a writer of fiction without ever wanting to write anything based on a true story but when I found myself trapped in the same downward spiral that was taking my daughter away from me, I began searching for a way to make sense of what we were experiencing. Not surprisingly I came to the conclusion I should write about it even though I didn’t really want to. So I sat down to chronicle what happened that night, the invisible carnage left in its wake that extended years beyond the attack, and also the collateral damage done to our family including my son who was forced to wage a battle of his own against rage, helplessness, and disillusionment that ultimately led to him questioning what it means to be a man.
I knew it wouldn’t be easy to write this play. I would have to deal with raw and often dark material, but I also knew it would be filled with resilience, humor, and love because it would be about us.
My sunshine baby. I wrote When It Happens to You as an attempt to help her find her way back from the darkness. She agreed to let me share her story with the world hoping it could help others. We both believe in its new form with this stunning company of actors under the creative helm of Jez Bond it will continue to do just that.
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