Catharsis Productions
Hilary Williams has a Bachelor's Degree in Theatre from Columbia College Chicago and a Degree in Community Arts Practice from the University of East London. They have experience working in various roles such as Education Coordinator at Stage 773, Teaching Artist at Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, and Facilitator at Catharsis Productions focusing on sexual assault awareness and prevention. They also served as a Teaching Artist and Program Manager at Storycatchers Theatre for previously incarcerated and court-appointed youth, and as a Frontline Development/Donations team member at Greenpeace.
Catharsis Productions
Leveraging 25 years of advocacy experience and over 40 years’ worth of program development and delivery, we bring a profound passion to reducing interpersonal violence through live education. All our programs incorporate the strategic use of humor to engage and challenge audiences as well as dynamic interactive discussion to get audiences to be self-reflective in the often unexamined attitudes that can keep us from supporting victims of interpersonal violence and holding perpetrators accountable We bring a profound passion to starting these important conversations and do it in a very unexpected way. Our engaging programs get students, military personnel and employees talking, sharing, and yes, even laughing about the behaviors, stereotypes and cultural attitudes that contribute to these social issues. Our approach is fully supported by research in education, psychology and cognition and led by trained educators who also happen to be dynamic, charismatic speakers. It all boils down to a proven, simple truth: laughter and honesty have the power to initiate change. Only when defenses are lowered, are people truly able to reflect on behaviors and beliefs, and begin a positive transformation.