UWG News Archive

Students present Vagina Monologues

January 30, 2003

CARROLLTON, GA - Students at the University of West Georgia will present benefit performances of Eve Ensler’s often hilarious, sometimes disturbing Obie Award-winning play The Vagina Monologues on Monday, Feb. 3, and Tuesday, Feb. 4, as part of the V-Day Campaign, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls.

V-Day is a nonprofit organization that stages large-scale benefits and promotes innovative gatherings and programs around the world to change social attitudes toward violence against women. Through V-Day campaigns, local volunteers and college students produce annual benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues on or around Valentine’s Day to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups within their own communities.

Now also a wildly popular book, the play might best be summed up by the description on the back cover of the latest edition: “A poignant and hilarious tour of the last frontier, the ultimate forbidden zone, The Vagina Monologues is a celebration of female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery.”

The UWG student-directed and student-performed productions will be presented in the Kathy Cashen Recital Hall in the Humanities Building at 8 p.m. on both nights. Tickets are $3 for UWG students and $10 for all others. As part of V-Day’s College Campaign, proceeds will benefit the Carroll Rape Crisis Center.

“We chose the Carroll Rape Crisis Center because we do a lot of work with them,” said Barbara Dyer, co-chair of the University’s Responsible Sexuality Committee, which works to educate students about healthy decision-making regarding sexual behavior. “They’re represented on our committee, and they do great work.”

V-Day was born in 1998 as an outgrowth of Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues. As she performed the piece around the world, Ensler was approached by hundreds of women who told her their personal stories of rape, incest, domestic battery, genital mutilation and sexual slavery. In response, she began using performances of the play to raise much-needed funds for organizations working to stop violence. The support she received for her efforts grew steadily and has since evolved into a worldwide social and activist movement.

Named one of Worth magazine’s 100 Best Charities in 2001, V-Day has raised more than $14 million for anti-violence programs since its creation. In 2002 alone, more than 800 V-Day benefit events raised over $7 million. Through the College Campaign, V-Day’s longest-running project, almost 1,000 schools worldwide (515 in 2002) have raised more than $2 million in four years and exposed at least 25 million people around the world to V-Day and its mission.

The ‘V’ in V-Day stands for Victory over Violence, Valentine’s Day and Vagina.

“Much of the violence against women occurs around the vagina or because women are different than men in that they have vaginas,” explains the V-Day web site. “If we can’t say the word, how can we talk about the issue seriously? Bringing the word vagina into common usage allows us to openly address the terrible issues of violence. Valentine’s Day is a perfect day to affirm that people should love each other and be nice to women, instead of hurting them or killing them.”

The play The Vagina Monologues is a series of monologues based on the responses of more than 200 women of all ages to questions Ensler asked them about their vaginas. “The work, Ensler says, is intended to free women from the shame many have been taught to feel regarding their vaginas and, by extension, their sexuality,” says Kirkus Reviews.

Says Dyer, “The play focuses on how our vagina — our genital area — is connected to our woman-ness, and it shows that when a person mistreats you sexually, they’re really making an assault on your gender and on your person-ness.”

West Georgia students performing in The Vagina Monologues are Elizabeth Blair of Cedartown, Kelly Gallagher of Villa Rica, Sheryland Neal of Atlanta, Jameelah Saleem of Decatur, Kristina Swim of Acworth and Cassie Vaughan of Buchanan.

The play contains graphic language and some disturbing references to violence and oppression. Performances are not recommended for children. Tickets may be purchased at the door or through UWG Health Services. Advance purchase is recommended for groups who wish to sit together.

For tickets or more information, contact Debra Dugan, health educator, at 770-838-3214. For more information about V-Day, visit its web site at www.vday.org.

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