Marblehead-based playwright Bianca Vranceanu is using her experience helping human trafficking survivors overseas to educate and inform through theater.
Vranceanu’s play “Sisterhood of the Survivors” made its debut at Northeastern University last Thursday and focuses on the real life stories of four Romanian human trafficking survivors. The play will run until Sunday, Oct. 22.
An American-Romanian, Vranceanu grew up overseas before volunteering at the Open Door Foundation from 2013-2019, which serves as the setting for the play.
According to the U.S. Department of State, Romania “remains a primary source country” for human trafficking, with a majority of victims identified as female sex workers. As a half-Romanian person who has worked closely with victims, the humanitarian issue is a personal one for Vranceanu.
“It’s really important to me because I had volunteered at the shelter for so long and human trafficking is an extreme global issue,” Vranceanu said. “It’s definitely something that I’ve been aware of, involved with in terms of volunteering and interacting with women who are survivors.”
Vranceanu moved to the U.S. for university studies and attended Northeastern University as a theater major with minors in english and playwriting. She wanted to find a way to continue her advocacy while attending school, so she combined her volunteer experience with her passion for theater.
“I grappled with how I could continue my relationship with the shelter and continue my volunteer work there, and I realized that there was an opportunity for advocacy,” Vranceanu said. “I was a theater major and I’ve been involved in theater my whole life and I realized that there was a great opportunity to write a play based on the real story of human trafficking survivors.”
The play began as a capstone project during Vranceanu’s senior year, where she was tasked with putting together a creative project. Vranceanu said the play was developed under the mentorship of Northeastern Professor Melinda Lopez, who met with her regularly to discuss the writing and other aspects of the play.
From there, Lopez got her in touch with Victor Talmadge, who is directing the current production. Talmadge developed a strong connection with the piece after becoming aware of it.
“Sisterhood of the Survivors” runs under the genre of documentary theater, where the play is based off of real life stories, done through interviews with human trafficking survivors. Vranceanu interviewed each of the four survivors featured in the play, gathering information on their upbringing, background, and time spent both as someone who was being trafficked and their time in the shelter.
Vranceanu said that she wanted to provide a more holistic approach to the play because she believes that today’s media too often reduces the issue of human trafficking to statistics, rather than providing and telling stories on a more human level.
“That was a great opportunity within this play to provide a full picture of what these women, what these survivors look like and their background, and really shine light on this global issue that could happen to anyone,” Vranceanu said.