Jillian Schock, Playwright.

Inspiration came to Jillian in 2017, she then began to write.

Inception of Jillian’s first script

In February of 2017, Jillian attended a movie with a group of comrades. The chosen movie of the night was the sequel to the popular 50 Shades of Grey film, 50 Shades Darker.  She watched her first film in the franchise with an open mind but was quickly shocked at what she witnessed. Her jaw dropped as she saw a clear case of abuse between the lead ‘romantic’ characters. It was the only time she considered walking out on an artistic project due to her discomfort. However, she stayed, compelled to take in the piece in its entirety to get a full grasp of what the culture is consuming around her. Questions bombarded her. As a  culture, why do we idolise these relationships? Why is this normalised? Why is abuse fetishised? Why can’t we see that? Where is the accountability for a creation’s impact? Do powerful creators care what their impact might be? 

Jillian returned home with energy coursing through her body and began to paint to help her process the experience. The painting unfolded in an unexpected way. She began with a sorrowful, grieving heart for those in vulnerable, compromised states, but her anger and fear projected forward and onto the canvas. In an almost out-of-body state, Jillian made the final stroke. She looked at the piece that seemed to have made itself and had this Knowing: She must write a play. She must create the antithesis of the movie she just took in. If that is how we have glamorised the narrative of abuse in our culture, she must write something different to add to the conversation and shine light on this subject. 



“I must add to this conversation…”

Curious, Jillian began to scour media, culture, conversations, and art to note what stories are being told around abuse and what narrative they create for the consumer. Stories of abuse are not frequently told, unless in private, quiet conversations about personal experiences, glib news clips of domestic violence, or the murder of a young woman on a crime show. The more she conversed on the subject, the clearer it became how rampant emotional abuse is in our lives, and how little it is represented in our systems, families, relationships, and work. She began researching abuse, reading articles, and listening to doctors, survivors, and abusers themselves. Poetry began spilling out of Jillian, her first and most visceral poem came unexpectedly while standing waiting for a street car. She raced to transfer the words into a note on her phone as she got in the car. 

While all forms of abuse are damaging and intolerable, Jillian was compelled to tell the narrative of emotional abuse as it is not often explored without being ‘secondary’ to a physical form. Emotional abuse is the least researched, understood, and represented abuse form, but has some of the most long term effects on victims. Jillian wanted to write a piece that highlighted the effects of emotional abuse within a partner relationship, focusing on women in their late teens and early twenties. Emotional abuse causes confusion and, over time, a shift in perceived reality. Jillian felt compelled to shine a light on the bewildering, invisible experience of emotional abuse, to make the concept tangible and physical. 


The first design component that Jillian dreamed up is a set of boxes, differing in colour and size, to represent the fundamentals, or ‘building blocks’, of unique people. The boxes would be manipulated physically to showcase the changes undergone by the person experiencing emotional manipulation and damage.

Jillian seized the opportunity to be mentored by her previous acting instructor, Christopher Weddell, whom she met while training at the Canadian College of the Performing Arts in Victoria, B.C. 

Writing process

The script built on a foundation of propelling questions: How do people get into these kinds of relationships? Why do they stay? Why do they reject, or are unable to hear, reason from concerned loved ones? Why do victims hide their experiences? Why do abusers act the way they do; is it calculated?

The script began as a single act, in the wake created by the termination of an emotionally abusive relationship. Jillian was compelled to tell the story of a strong woman who had been worn down and changed over time, but who discovered the reality of her past and began to rebuild a more powerful self. It became evident that the story of how she got there was too important to omit. It was vital to Jillian to tell the narrative that a confident, intelligent, vivacious person can have these experiences, and to validate that people who do, are neither weak nor dumb. She wanted to show how tricky, subtle, and damaging this abuse is.

The script developed into a fully formed three-act script, portraying the beginning, middle to end, and aftermath of an abusive partner relationship. In September and November 2020, the first private readings of the script were hosted over zoom. Receiving strong feedback on both the original and edited read drafts, Jillian and Christopher worked to get the script ready for new stages of development. The two made their final edits in the early months of 2022.

Next Steps

With script in hand, Jillian is eager to move into the developmental process. The script uses original poetry, song, dance, movement, naturalism, light, soundscape, projection, and unique use of set. Many different art forms coincide to create a physicalized journey of emotional abuse’s effects. It has been her desire since inception to create a space for a group of artists with varying performance and technical skills to cultivate the physical ‘language’ of the piece. The goal is to devise and develop a stylized form of movement, and interaction between the actors themselves and the technical elements. Please contact Jillian if you are interested in joining the exciting process. 

Contact Jillian.

I look forward to hearing from you!