“When I was a little girl I sang in the Met Opera Children’s Chorus and got my first taste of what it felt like to be in the theater - to be around the costumes, the sets, the smells and communal aspect of of it all. When I was about 7 or 8 years old I was part of a co-production with the Kirov company. And one day after a performance two Russian men came up to me and one of them asked me, “Do you love?”. I said I didn’t understand what he was asking me. So he asked again, “Do you love?” And I apologized again and said I didn’t understand. Then he asked a third time, “Do you love?” and aggressively reached out pointing to and then touched my clothed vagina. It wasn’t traumatizing, it didn’t feel sexual, but it shocked me. I didn’t want to tell my Dad because I was afraid he would come and cause a scene. But I felt weird about it and weird about holding it inside. Back then I was concerned about not causing a stir in the theater. Now I’m comfortable dealing with conflict and speaking up.” - Rebecca Naomi Jones is a Broadway actor and is playing Laurey in Oklahoma.