“Having spent the past three decades helping first-year students make the sometimes-difficult adjustment to college, I can say with certainty that Hailey Henderson’s powerful show provides a fabulous entrée into important discussions about identity formation, relationship violence, and resilience that young adults need to be having right as they join our communities. Blackout would perfectly complement any university’s orientation program because it dramatizes the challenging situations many of our students will face and does so in a funny yet heartbreaking way. Students will find themselves fully engaged as they witness Henderson’s own journey through various educational settings, a journey that reveals the courage it takes to find one’s authentic voice and the harrowing risks in failing at that project. ”

“Henderson’s timing is exquisite. She is an animated, high energy, and dynamic storyteller…an hour of riveting entertainment and audience members will learn something. I left with a bright energy and a strong sense of empowerment, like a sunflower.
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“One of the most powerful alchemies in art is the transformation of the personal into the universal. The story Hailey Henderson tells in Blackout is all hers, and yet it could be anyone’s, and I’d bet everyone watching is in the story somewhere. The skill with which Henderson guides us through her perilous, painful, and ultimately empowering story makes for the kind of evening I relish in the theater, an evening after which I feel I’ve really seen someone, and my attention turns to my own life and to those around me with new perspective. Often funny, surprising, difficult, and rewarding, the show succeeds as expert solo performance, but that’s only half the reason I want everyone at UW to see it. The other half is the subject and how it is illuminated, because I think we should be looking at it and talking about it, for the sake of our students, for our children and partners, and for ourselves.”

“ I heartily recommend this play for all women; every woman alive has suffered some form of sexual abuse, and using humor, insight, brilliant comic timing and an excellent script Henderson evolves from a self-effacing survivor to a free agent in control of her destiny.
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