Content warning: This story contains mentions of violence and sexual assault.
An eager crowd packed into Shanley Pavilion for Sit & Spin Productions’ final performance of Mara Nelson-Greenberg’s 2018 play “Do You Feel Anger?” on Saturday night.
And rightfully so — Sit & Spin’s take on the piece was passionately directed and left audiences with an empathetic outlook on abuse in the workplace and beyond.
“Do You Feel Anger?”, Sit & Spin’s New Student Week show, is the first student production of the 2025-2026 school year. It ran four times across Friday and Saturday.
The performance was prefaced by a content warning issued by the show’s director and producer, Communication senior Georgia Mann and McCormick junior Will Boyle, respectively. This announcement was co-sponsored by Northwestern’s Sexual Assault and Peer Educators program, as the show depicts sexual violence, abuse and gore.
This warning was accompanied by a reminder that the actors would mirror audience reactions, developing a relationship between cast and crowd. The show continued to build on this connection during each pivotal moment, creating an environment that left viewers questioning how they see the world around them.
“Do You Feel Anger?” follows Sofia, a bright-eyed empathy coach attempting to teach a male-dominated office of debt collectors emotional intelligence. Played by Communication sophomore Juno Azuz Zacher, Sofia sets out with a clear sense of self as she refuses to submit to men and pledges to stand up for the effervescent Eva, an employee trapped in a cycle of violent muggings.
However, as the show progresses, Sofia slowly loses sight of her values and promises as she is folded into a world of corporate apathy, a development which Zacher conveyed with eerie effortlessness. The audience loses faith in Sofia as she turns her back on sisterhood to become a male sympathizer.
By exploring modern office dynamics through absurdity and painfully blunt dialogue, “Do You Feel Anger?” dissects the systematic silencing of women’s pain in the modern workforce.
Sofia’s and Eva’s struggles with murderous ex-boyfriends, a boss in disbelief over the science of period symptoms and male-coworkers constantly fluctuating emotions illustrate how distractions and humor can be used as a coping mechanism when there are no other options.
“I think the biggest part, for me, is … how complicit we (have) become in these structures of power,” Mann said about her directorial debut. “Obviously, it is hyperbolized in the play, but a lot of the actions the characters take are things that are happening day to day. Making the audience watch that and confront that is really important to me.”
Sofia’s capitulation to her office’s toxic work environment eventually pushes her towards a total breakdown in the show’s finale. It is only then that she sees just how much the culture unknowingly affected her and the other female employees she left hanging. Sofia’s release captures a core aspect of workplace abuse that “Do You Feel Anger?” seeks to portray.
“We should be progressing as a society and not falling back into cycles of hatred,” Mann said. “It’s really empathy at the end of the day that I think has become more and more necessary.”
As cast members took their final bow, the actors encouraged the audience to reflect. If they had felt anger, like the play’s title suggested: Where did it come from?
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BlueSky: lucaskubovchik.bsky.social
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
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