Picking up from yesterday –
Now, big spoiler alert of how it ends.
[Edited to add: Now that there’s a long version, it doesn’t end this way, because there’s room for more nuance.]
So, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler alert…
In the end, she gets choked to death by this man. (And then we see the veeeeery beginning of the cycle with a new woman.) Now, of course I don’t want my protagonist dying… By the same token, I only had so many minutes (and I even went over by a couple.) It has to end in some way.
And, 3 American women (and even more worldwide) die everyday by the hands of a current or former domestic partner. So, it is real, and it is an epidemic.
And there are plenty of men who ultimately don’t end up going to jail because of various technicalities. (I read a horrific story of a man who killed three (3!) domestic partners in his lifetime. (He didn’t even go to jail for the first one(!).))
So, the idea that the dude in this musical could kill her and not go to jail seems real to me. BUT. Murder is a whole giant thing. So, I could see how it could be seen as too over-the-top.
Some people agreed it was the right way to end it (because of everything mentioned above, which other people actually pointed out without me needing to – it was a very lively discussion among the class, which, again, I thought was awesome that it sparked so much debate.
But some people thought it was a little much (which I understood).
Heartbreakingly, my uber driver a few days leading up to this asked me what I was working on, and when I said a musical on domestic violence, she told me one of her best friends had been killed by domestic violence. That really just struck a dagger to my heart – how close we all are to someone who’s life has been directly affected because they, or someone they love very much, has been hurt…
So, yeah, I guess there you have it. A very sad subject, but a very happy girl with a very well-received musical.
This felt like exactly what I needed, and I don’t think I could’ve asked for the end of 1st year/this presentation to go any better than it did!
Oh! And even one more thought tomorrow!
[For more on my experience with The BMI Workshop, you can go here.
For more on the sexual assault posts, you can go here. Thanks!]