FRIDAY 08/18/23
SURVIVOR SPEAK USA IS STARTING TO WORK IN THE LEWISTON AREA!!
World Premier of The Last Girl, A Play by Dee Clarke, on 10/20
October 17, 2022
In partnership with Portland Ovations, SSUSA is honored to share the first full-length staged reading of dee Clarke’s memory play, The Last Girl, based in part on Clarke’s 2014 testimony on sexual trafficking to the Maine Human Rights Commission. The Last Girl tells, in three acts, Clarke’s personal story of surviving trafficking as a young child and adult. Reflecting the advocacy work for which she is best known and of which The Last Girl is a part, Clarke, who passed away unexpectedly in November, 2021, was driven to bring to life the humanity of each of the many characters portrayed, traffickers as well as survivors, giving voice and hope to those trapped by poverty and racism everywhere. In the final act, as in her life, Clarke uses her own story to become an advocate for survivors of sexploitation and shares others’, inviting your personal engagement.
This reading represents a critical moment in the play’s evolution before the addition of staging, costumes and tech. We invite you to learn from and engage with Clarke’s story and the work of the organization she founded in 2015, Survivor Speak USA.
A critical component of Dee's work is to engage everyone on the issues of human trafficking and sexploitation. As part of the staged reading you are invited to join the cast, creative team, and survivor-leaders in this conversation. Purchase tickets here.
SHOW TIME - THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2022 – 7PM, WESTBROOK PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, WESTBROOK
October 17, 2022
In partnership with Portland Ovations, SSUSA is honored to share the first full-length staged reading of dee Clarke’s memory play, The Last Girl, based in part on Clarke’s 2014 testimony on sexual trafficking to the Maine Human Rights Commission. The Last Girl tells, in three acts, Clarke’s personal story of surviving trafficking as a young child and adult. Reflecting the advocacy work for which she is best known and of which The Last Girl is a part, Clarke, who passed away unexpectedly in November, 2021, was driven to bring to life the humanity of each of the many characters portrayed, traffickers as well as survivors, giving voice and hope to those trapped by poverty and racism everywhere. In the final act, as in her life, Clarke uses her own story to become an advocate for survivors of sexploitation and shares others’, inviting your personal engagement.
This reading represents a critical moment in the play’s evolution before the addition of staging, costumes and tech. We invite you to learn from and engage with Clarke’s story and the work of the organization she founded in 2015, Survivor Speak USA.
A critical component of Dee's work is to engage everyone on the issues of human trafficking and sexploitation. As part of the staged reading you are invited to join the cast, creative team, and survivor-leaders in this conversation. Purchase tickets here.
SHOW TIME - THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2022 – 7PM, WESTBROOK PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, WESTBROOK
Statement on the Passing of SUSSA Founder, Dee Clarke
November 3, 2021
We are bereft and we are grieving. It hurts our heart to share the news that Survivor Speak USA founder and director, Dee Clarke, died on Sunday, October 31st, 2021. Dee passed on in the presence of her eldest daughter and her sister. She was surrounded by love, all the way until the end.
Dee founded Survivor Speak because she wanted to see survivors - especially Black and Brown survivors - leading the movement to end sex trafficking and sexploitation. Dee has been a mentor, a friend, an agitator, and a beacon to so many. It is difficult to capture in words how large Dee’s impact has been in Maine and beyond.
We know that so many of you who came into contact with Dee are also grieving. For many of us, Dee was a hero, a parent, a confidante, a person who created pathways towards healing, and a person with an immense capacity for forgiveness. Her life, love, and legacy will not be forgotten; she will forever inspire and guide our liberation work.
A celebration of life for Dee is being planned for next weekend. We will share more plans about this celebration as they become available. Survivor Speak will provide a virtual forum for honoring Dee - the details of this virtual forum will be determined at a later date.
We’re with you all in our shared love and admiration for Dee.
November 3, 2021
We are bereft and we are grieving. It hurts our heart to share the news that Survivor Speak USA founder and director, Dee Clarke, died on Sunday, October 31st, 2021. Dee passed on in the presence of her eldest daughter and her sister. She was surrounded by love, all the way until the end.
Dee founded Survivor Speak because she wanted to see survivors - especially Black and Brown survivors - leading the movement to end sex trafficking and sexploitation. Dee has been a mentor, a friend, an agitator, and a beacon to so many. It is difficult to capture in words how large Dee’s impact has been in Maine and beyond.
We know that so many of you who came into contact with Dee are also grieving. For many of us, Dee was a hero, a parent, a confidante, a person who created pathways towards healing, and a person with an immense capacity for forgiveness. Her life, love, and legacy will not be forgotten; she will forever inspire and guide our liberation work.
A celebration of life for Dee is being planned for next weekend. We will share more plans about this celebration as they become available. Survivor Speak will provide a virtual forum for honoring Dee - the details of this virtual forum will be determined at a later date.
We’re with you all in our shared love and admiration for Dee.
Public Hearing Scheduled for Vacatur Bill on 5/7!
May 03, 2019
We are so excited to share BIG news and a request for your support! SSUSA’s vacatur bill--LD 1381, An Act To Create a Post-judgment Mechanism To Provide Relief to Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking—has been scheduled for a public hearing before the Judiciary Committee this coming Tuesday, May 7th! This is shorter notice than we’d hoped for, but survivors are ready to show up and speak on our own behalf about the need for vacatur NOW!
We would like to formally invite all supporters to show solidarity with Maine’s survivors of sex trafficking and sexploitation by 1) attending the hearing in person to listen to survivors’ testimony and deliver your own supportive testimony, or 2) submitting testimony electronically as soon as possible.
If you need a reminder of why vacatur is so important, or talking points to guide your testimony, you can read more on our website about why a ‘clean slate’ is so critical for survivors to rebuild lives beyond sexploitation.
May 03, 2019
We are so excited to share BIG news and a request for your support! SSUSA’s vacatur bill--LD 1381, An Act To Create a Post-judgment Mechanism To Provide Relief to Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking—has been scheduled for a public hearing before the Judiciary Committee this coming Tuesday, May 7th! This is shorter notice than we’d hoped for, but survivors are ready to show up and speak on our own behalf about the need for vacatur NOW!
We would like to formally invite all supporters to show solidarity with Maine’s survivors of sex trafficking and sexploitation by 1) attending the hearing in person to listen to survivors’ testimony and deliver your own supportive testimony, or 2) submitting testimony electronically as soon as possible.
If you need a reminder of why vacatur is so important, or talking points to guide your testimony, you can read more on our website about why a ‘clean slate’ is so critical for survivors to rebuild lives beyond sexploitation.
- For those joining us in person, please RSVP to Executive Director dee Clarke as soon as you are able. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, May 7th at 1:30 pm in State House Room 438.
- For those submitting testimony electronically, please be aware that you must now use the legislative website’s new online submission form, found here.
- We will be tweeting from the hearing room, so follow the hashtag #VacaturIsFreedom to join in the conversation.
LD 1381 is SSUSA's Vacatur Bill!
April 22, 2019
We want to make supporters & allies aware that SSSUSA’s vacatur bill has been assigned to a legislative committee! LD 1381, "An Act To Create a Post-judgment Mechanism To Provide Relief to Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking" has been assigned to the Judiciary Committee. You can read the bill text here. We will be sharing more updates about lobbying soon, but are excited to have a bill officially under consideration by the legislature. It is the first anti-trafficking bill that addresses urgent needs of the Forgotten Women created by survivors ourselves, and we are very proud of it!
April 22, 2019
We want to make supporters & allies aware that SSSUSA’s vacatur bill has been assigned to a legislative committee! LD 1381, "An Act To Create a Post-judgment Mechanism To Provide Relief to Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking" has been assigned to the Judiciary Committee. You can read the bill text here. We will be sharing more updates about lobbying soon, but are excited to have a bill officially under consideration by the legislature. It is the first anti-trafficking bill that addresses urgent needs of the Forgotten Women created by survivors ourselves, and we are very proud of it!
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