By Brittany Neddo
“V-day” returns to campus with this year’s annual production of the Eve Ensler’s “Vagina Monologues.” The event will take Saturday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. in the Dods Multipurpose Room.
The Obie-award- winning play is comprised of real-life stories and memories that address the complications and endeavors of female sexuality. It is based on interviews that Eve Ensler conducted with over 200 women.
The New York Times once stated, “The monologues are part of Eve Ensler's crusade to wipe out the shame and embarrassment that many women still associate with their bodies or their sexuality. They are both a celebration of women's sexuality and a condemnation of its violation.”
This all-female staged production started out in the basement of a café located in downtown New York only to become a national female phenomenon. It took the stage five years later in 2001 at Madison Square Garden where renowned female celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg, Jane Fonda, Melissa Ethridge, Oprah Winfrey, and many others partook in the production of the play.
“The Vagina Monologues” has been performed in hundreds of cities and colleges, many of which have linked the production to fundraising efforts for organizations which fight to eliminate violence against women not only in the U.S., but in foreign countries such as Afghanistan, Kenya, Bosnia, Croatia and Chechnya. It has been translated into over 24 languages.
Other works by Ensler include “Lemonade,” “The Depot,” “Floating Rhoda and the Glue Man,” “Extraordinary Measures, “Ladies” and “Scooncat.” She has received a 1999 Guggenheim Fellowship in playwriting. Currently, Ensler resides in New York City with her partner Ariel Orr Jordan.
This year’s production of the “The Vagina Monologues” will be directed by senior theatre major Madelein Smith. The event is opened to all students, faculty and community members. Tickets will be $3 for students and $5 for the public, and are available at the SUNY Fredonia Ticket Office, located in the Temporary Office Complex in the Dods Hall lot.
To learn more, contact Madelein Smith at smit0667@fredonia.edu.
