By Keisha McDuffie/ne news editor
NE Campus students, faculty and staff will do a dramatic reading next week to benefit a local charity.
The NE theater department will sponsor a production of The Vagina Monologues Feb. 10 and 11 at 8 p.m. in the NE Theatre (NFAB 1205). Directed by Emily Hardy, president of Delta Psi Omega drama society, the performance was organized by Victoria Jordan, pledge-master of DPO; both women are TCC drama majors.
No reservations are necessary, but a $10 donation is requested. This year’s proceeds will benefit The Battered Women’s Foundation.
This is the second year TCC campuses have participated in The Vagina Monologues production, a theater event developed to benefit organizations dedicated to stopping violence against women.
Eve Ensler, playwright, actress and founder/artistic director of V-Day, an international non-profit organization, wrote The Vagina Monologues after a conversation with a friend about menopause.
“ She started talking about her vagina with such contempt and hatred,” Ensler said. “I was appalled.
This casual conversation among friends led to many more anecdotes, which eventually led to the interviewing of more than 200 women. Topics of discussion were as diverse as those interviewed: menstruation, orgasm, birth, sex and masturbation.
Ensler wrote the first draft (there have been several revisions since) in 1996 and originally performed all the monologues herself; however, the play is no longer a one-woman production.
Celebrities have joined in the fight from across the globe including Sandra Oh, Claire Danes, Marissa Tomei and Whoopi Goldberg.
“ The people of V-Day prefer women performers of all walks of life, the more diverse the better,” Jordan said. “That’s why all females on campus are invited to participate—faculty, staff and students.”
Each monologue relates to the vagina in some way, whether it is through sex or the variety of names for the vagina.
“ These monologues are made not to be rehearsed; everything is a lot more laid back,” Jordan said to a circle of women including a biology and history major, a professor of psychology and a speech instructor, last week.
Ensler originally described her theme, as “the vagina is a tool of female empowerment and ultimate embodiment of individuality.” However, in a 1998 interview, she said the purpose of the piece changed from a celebration of vaginas and femininity to a movement to stop violence against women.
The NE Campus production has a two-fold purpose.
“ We want people to understand why we’re doing this, but we also want people to walk away being entertained and with an understanding,” Jordan said.
After the formation of V-Day, college and professional theaters around the world have selected organizations to help and mounted charitable productions of The Vagina Monologues.
Statistics indicate one in three women will be a victim of violence—most likely at the hands of someone she knows. The V-Day performances aid those women in each participating theater’s community.
V-Day has raised and donated more than $40 million dollars, helping organizations dedicated to stopping violence against women all over the world, by creating safety, healing and inspiration for women, men and children.
According to a June 6, 2006, article in The New York Times, “Performances have become something of a staple on college campuses. This year alone, 1,150 colleges and communities put together 2,700 V-Day events, occurring on or near Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.”
