Cleansed
Written by Sarah Kane
Educator’s Guide by Christopher Jerabek
For a course taught by Bradley Griffin
“Death isn’t the worst thing they can do to you.”
For the final project of Dr. Bradley Griffin’s “History of the Theatre,” I created an educator’s guide for Sarah Kane’s Cleansed. The play approaches themes of sex and sexuality through a bloody lens of violence and abuse, in a script that challenges anyone who would dare to read, view, or attempt to stage this difficult play. “Impossible” stage directions, brutal violence, and graphic sex are just several of the roadblocks that theatre-makers face when they approach this piece. The Educator’s Guide is designed to help high school theatre teachers work their way through the troubling material, and discover the beauty within the script.