After a successful premiere held last June 2 in Manila, Red Leaves Falling, Stairway's third animated film about child pornography and child sex trafficking, alongside "Cracked Mirrors," a long-running theatre piece that portrays the deep pain and suffering children and young people go through as a result of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, has completed its month long European tour that covered Denmark, Belgium and Germany. 

Stairway successfully completes the Break the Silence European Tour

After a successful premiere held last June 2 in Manila, Red Leaves Falling, Stairway's third animated film about child pornography and child sex trafficking, alongside”Cracked Mirrors," a long-running theatre piece that portrays the deep pain and suffering children and young people go through as a result of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, has completed its month long European tour that covered Denmark, Belgium and Germany.

In collaboration with Roedkilde Gymnasium, Stairway Danmark, Kildenothilfe, private sponsors and with the Danish International Development Assistance (Danida) as the main sponsor of the tour, the Break the Silence Campaign covered 15 Cracked Mirrors performances and 17 Red Leaves Falling presentations leaving an indelible impact on every audience in the three countries.

The tour entourage consisted of Lars Jorgensen, Stairway’s Executive Director, Monica Ray, Artistic Director and writer/director of Red Leaves Falling and Cracked Mirrors, the T.A.S.K. (Talented Ambitious Super Kids) theater group consisting of Susan Serafico, Jao Guitterez and Jhonnie Arevalo, Ysrael Diloy, one of Stairway’s Advocacy Officer who served as technical coordinator for the tour, and Ate Iza, Zachary and Izana Ray Jorgensen, alongside the great assistance of local supporters and partners in Denmark, Germany and Belgium, which was manifested thru different ways; from simple volunteer assistance for local coordination up to a grand show of support from Roedkilde Gymnasium students and teachers by mobilizing a large fund raising drive for Stairway wherein students performed mime acts in the street in order to raise general awareness about Stairway, Children’s Rights.

Each leg of the tour consisted of screening Red Leaves Falling, which was followed by a performance of Cracked Mirrors of which TASK would speak afterwards about how they personally relate to the characters they play and initiate a dialogue with the audience. Audiences varied greatly for every performance; from students, to NGO workers, to everyday common people. Even with the great diversity of audiences, effects were the same for each and every performance; that Red Leaves Falling and Cracked Mirrors touched their hearts.

Being called the “Break the Silence” tour, it was highly ironic, but quite expected, that at the end of every performance, silence was usually the common reactions immediately afterwards. When prodded, people would say that it was very hard to speak after such an experience as it is not everyday that they are confronted with the issue, and in such a very purposively meaningful way. It was for Stairway, a great measure of success, as the Break the Silence Tour was designed to be a meaningful experience for anyone that would witness it. It was also a great means of confirming on how Stairway’s methodologies can be considered effective even in a different setting such as Europe. It also adds up to the confirmation on how universal the issue is, and that no matter how progressive a country is, there is still a lot of room to raise awareness on this issue. 

People describe the Break the Silence Tour in a myriad of ways, but one student describes the tour in a very interesting way.

"It is special, unique, creative and beautiful.  It is wonderful that they have come here to show us their stories."

Something that Stairway strives to maintain in communicating the issue to people.