Tucked away in the hallway behind the Bean in the Schmidt Academic Center sits the Women’s Center office. Behind the door is Cassie Snyder, a DePaul Double Demon, working hard and getting all the details together for her show this weekend, “A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer” (MMRP).
(Photo credited to Anam Merchant, acquired through Facebook)
Anyone who has had the pleasure of interacting with Cassie knows she has a warm, passionate energy. That energy has translated into 5 years of performances in “Vagina Monologues” every year, multiple service immersion trips, work as a Chicago Quarter mentor, involvement in Chi Omega and Alpha Phi Omega, commencement speaker at her graduation last Spring, work as Rima Shah’s intern in the office of Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW), guiding tours around campus… Chances are, you’ve seen or heard of Cassie Snyder.
Her heart is as big as her influence at DePaul, which, considering the laundry list above, stretches all around campus. In response to her impressive resume, she commented, “DePaul has been pretty good to me.”
Most recently, her heart and passion has poured into the first showing of MMRP that DePaul has ever put on. As part of sexual assault awareness month, Snyder believes art and theatre can create cathartic experiences for victims and empathy from the community. She stresses that these performances can be healing for victims. “We need more of this kind of activism at DePaul.” Snyder herself wrote and performed her own piece in the show this weekend. Vagina Monologues, which is from the same organization MMRP came from, sold out its performances in 2014, which MMRP hopes to do this weekend.
In commenting on the experience to her Facebook page, Snyder said, “Together, we are making art that will hopefully wake the world up, and realize the prevalence and devastating nature of sexual assault and rape. […] I will use my art, my voice, and my passion for helping survivors to hopefully help make a difference.“
Everything Snyder does now – her work with the Women’s Center, putting on MMRP, her internship with Rima Shah in HPW – centers on being an advocate for rape victims and supporting organizations that do the same. She spent her Spring Break splitting time between a Sexual Assault Awareness brainstorming conference, working in Chicago’s west side at her internship bringing art therapy for sexual assault victims, and spending her Friday night at the premiere of Hunting Ground, a film focusing on survivors’ voices.
Of course, DePaul itself, like many universities, has come into controversy in recent history over how it handles sexual assault cases. As part of the community within DePaul that advocates for victims and acts as a resource for them, Snyder says that change at any university will be slow, but one of the main ways “to be more survival-friendly [is to] fund survivor resources.” The Women’s Center, she commented, is one of those resources that has been around for 20 years.
As aforementioned, Snyder has been involved with Vagina Monologues all five years she’s attended DePaul. Not only has she found healing and passion through this experience, but it also became the catalyst for a lot of her involvement in the Women’s Center, the HPW office, and a continuation of her love of theatre, which started around the young age of 8. She will reprise her role as director Vagina Monologues next year.
Her involvement around helping victims of sexual assault and being an advocate for women in general made bringing MMRP to DePaul a natural next step for Snyder.
(Designed by Kellie Schipper)
As a Double Demon, Cassie has some other favorite places around town. Aside from the Women’s Center and the HPW office, she is well known at Allende, loves Noodles and the Pot, and – because of her recent Vegan status – frequents the Chicago Diner.
Within the next year, she is auditioning to be part of the Neofuturists theatre company. In following with her involvement at DePaul, the Neofuturists perform politically aware art and tour with cathartic performances at colleges around the country.
For now, you can meet Cassie this weekend following the show.
See MMRP tonight (4/25) at 6:00p.m. in SAC 154 or tomorrow night (4/26) at 6:00p.m. in Corteylou Coomons. Tickets are $10 (cash only) and sold at the door.
For more information, visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/1065108066837423/1072174232797473/