Our Mission: The mission of E5M is to provide social action theatre that leads to meaningful discussions and creates opportunities for people to develop and understand how they function in relationships in order to end sexual violence.  

Our Vision: The goal of E5M is to empower people to make changes in their actions and speech that will create and maintain a safe environment leading to a community that will not tolerate sexual violence. 

In the fall of 1990, the Syracuse University Rape, Advocacy, Prevention and Education Center was founded and supported by students who had become alarmed at the increase in incidents of rape and sexual assault on campus during one academic year.  A troupe of actors would write and perform scenarios that depicted some aspect of sexual violence.  After watching the actors perform a scene, audience members would be invited to question the characters about the choices they made or failed to make.  In the spring of 1992, an interactive theater group was formed.  "Every Five Minutes," better known as "E5M," informed students about rape and sexual assault through education theater that featured interactive dialogue between the actors and audience.  The group chose its name from a poem entitled, "with no immediate," written by Ntozake Shange, which highlighted the then current statistic that every five minutes a woman was raped.  From spring of 2000 until fall of 2002, E5M was put on hold.  In the spring of 2003, a recruitment campaign was developed and the interview process began.  Nine students formed the first "new" troupe of E5M members during the fall, 2003 semester.  Currently E5M is an active troupe on the SU campus. 

In the fall of 2005, E5M was officially introduced at Michigan State University.  The troupe has become active at MSU advocating against sexual violence through performances in Residence Halls and classrooms across campus. 

To learn more about E5M, please visit our Facebook page!

E5M Theater Troupe 2010