Anya 17

Directed by Brian Staufenbiel Conducted by Nicole Paiment Composed by ‘British Composer Award’ Winner Adam Gorb to a libretto written by Ben Kaye, Anya17 was written specifically to raise awareness of the secret world of Sex Trafficking, where up to 800,000 young women and children are trafficked into the EU every year. Based on extensive research with caseworkers and experts from ten supporting charities, Anya17 is a highly dramatic interpretation of the lives of four young women trafficked from Eastern Europe and sold into sexual slavery. "Amidst a maelstrom of deception, secrecy, betrayal, violence and apparent hopelessness, Anya17 explores the minds and motivations of this diverse group of young women, their families, their lovers and their captors. In a collision of East and West values, and where human beings are treated as mere commodities to be bought and sold, Anya must find an ultimate inner strength and use all of her resources to survive in hope of redemption. The only alternative is a spiral of despair to death. As the drama escalates inescapably towards its dramatic finale, perhaps death is indeed the only way out." Watercolor Illustration by Evan Wright