One-man play chronicles how ‘the force’ saved sexual abuse survivor’s life

VANCOUVER (CANADA)
Vancouver Courier

December 3, 2017

By John Kurucz

Creator of How Star Wars Saved My Life found solace and inspiration in 1977 film

In an alternate universe, the force has moved mountains, dethroned despots and fine-tuned fighting instincts.

For Nicholas Harrison, the force has had a more tangible application — it saved his life.

Harrison is at the helm of a one-man show called How Star Wars Saved My Life, an 80-minute long play that debuts at Performance Works on Granville Island Dec. 6.

The production hones in on Harrison’s experiences as a survivor of sexual and physical abuse and how he reconciled those episodes of abuse as a teenager, and then as an adult.

“On the outside, I’ve got a doctorate, I’m a successful artist and I do all these interesting things,” Harrison says. “It sounds great. But underneath that, what people don’t see, are these hidden stories that we are taught to supress or to feel shame or guilt about. We are told to keep quiet.”

The play is set in a fictional northern B.C. town called Hopeless, and the story picks up with Harrison as a five-year-old. He is subjected to four years of rape and physical abuse from priests and others at the Catholic school he attended.

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