4/16/18

Last week, The Steppenwolf Theater and several area high schools welcomed performances of the play Now That We’re Men. The brutally honest piece, written by Katie Cappiello, examines how teenage boys navigate their journey to manhood. The play’s five characters compose a high school friend group whose interactions drive the narrative. The collective story is suspended when each young man breaks into a deeply personal monologue reflecting thoughts and feelings influenced by rape culture and social expectations.

The play explores the topics of consent, power, porn, sexual orientation, masculinity, and sex. Now That We’re Men doesn’t sugar coat these themes. It truthfully lies out, in language heard in high schools across the country, the conversations and inner dialogues of adolescent men. The play’s realism supercharges its impact on audiences – especially teens.

Viewers find themselves recognizing the characters as someone they have known, remembering comparable conversations, and recalling similar conflicts from their life whether they happened last semester or last decade. CAASE congratulates Cappiello on creating a work of such relevance and relatability for high school students. It is a powerful tool for engaging young people on the topics it explores. 

CAASE linked Now That We’re Men with Evanston Township High School (ETHS) to arrange a staged reading as part of the school’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) campaign. Nearly 600 students, faculty, and CAASE staff members were absorbed by the performance. Following the reading, Cappiello and the cast provided a talkback allowing students to ask questions, comment on, and connect the play’s situations with their lives. Students asked how they could be “part of the solution” when it comes to sexual harm, highlighting the power of the piece for adolescence. We hope many more have the chance to experience it!

Click to learn more about Now That We’re Men.

Left to right: Hayley Forrestal (CAASE Communications Manager), Kaethe Morris Hoffer (CAASE Exc. Director),Caleb Grandoit, Fred Hechinger, Rayshawn Richardson (NTWM Cast Members), Charlotte Arnoux (NTWM Assistant Director and Associate Producer), Katie Cappiello (NTWM Writer and Director ),Marquis Rodrigue (NTWM, filled in for Alphonso Jones for the ETHS performance), and Jordan Eliot (NTWM)