ANDREWS AFB, Md. –
As part of Wingman Day, the 79th Medical Group and Family Advocacy hosted "The Yellow Dress," a dramatic one-woman play based on the story of dating violence victims, last Friday at the Reel Time Theater. The play took the audience through the stages of a three-year dating relationship between Ana and her boyfriend Ricky-a relationship that ended in tragedy.
"The Yellow Dress play was scheduled for Wingman Day in order to provide you with the ammunition to be a wingman for your fellow Airman," said Joyce Cravin, 79th Medical Operations Squadron Family Advocacy outreach manager. "We can provide you with the tools to be a good wingman to other Airmen who are facing intimate partner violence."
Ms. Cravin said the play was an opportunity to educate Team Andrews as to what to do when a friend finds themselves in a dating or domestic violence situation. "With the increased rates of violence as a result of high deployments and separations, the Family Advocacy Program staff believes that The Yellow Dress play is an informal and discrete way of raising awareness and improving the Air Force community's response to dating and domestic violence, sexual coercion and sexual assault," said Ms. Cravin.
Intimate partner violence crosses all races and ranks. "Domestic violence doesn't discriminate. Violence comes in many forms. It is learned and can be unlearned. The Yellow Dress reinforces the military community's need to recognize the early warning signs of abuse, learn how to help friends and family members who are victims or perpetrators, and understand the cycle of abuse," said Mrs Craven.
The Yellow Dress play is a project of Deana's Educational Theater. "The play was written in response to the untimely death of Deana Brisbois, who was a victim of date violence," said Ms. Cravin. "The family and friends of Deana Brisbois founded the theater."
For more information about The Yellow Dress play or intimate partner violence, visit www.deanaseducationaltheater.org/yellowdress.html or contact the Family Advocacy office at 240-857-9680.