Wednesday, January 29, 2003

WILMINGTON -- The UNCW Women’s Resource Center is sponsoring two performances of The Vagina Monologues on Sunday, Feb. 16, at Kenan Auditorium. The performances will be held at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $4 for students and $6 for everyone else and are available for purchase at the Kenan Auditorium Box Office. All proceeds will benefit Domestic Violence Shelter and Services and the Rape Crisis Center. UNCW graduate (2001) Alicia Sowisdral is coordinating and producing the event which will be performed by student actors.

The Vagina Monologues is based on playwright Eve Ensler’s interviews with more than 200 women throughout the world. It celebrates women’s sexuality and strength as well as exposes the violence and indignities that women endure. The Vagina Monologues won an Obie Award in 1997 and has been translated into 22 languages; Ensler’s performance of the play can be seen in a recently released HBO film, now available on video and DVD.

Eve Ensler has devoted her life to eradicating violence against women. Her new play, Necessary Targets, is also based on extensive interviews and features two women who travel to Bosnia to help women refugees confront their memories of war. An upcoming play and book, The Good Body, examines how women around the world mutilate, fix, and transform their bodies in order to fit in with their cultures.

In the wake of the phenomenal success of The Vagina Monologues, in 1998 Ensler launched V-Day, a day (on or around Valentine’s Day in February) on which a series of innovative productions, events, and initiatives are produced around the world in order to transform consciousness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. In 2002, V-Day encompassed a 13-week calendar of events and social action campaigns, including more than 800 productions of The Vagina Monologues performed in theatres, community centers, houses of worship, and college campuses around the world.

V-Day is also a non-profit corporation that distributes funds to grassroots, national, and international organizations and programs that work to stop violence against women and girls. In just five years, V-Day has raised over $14 million, with $7 million raised in 2002 alone. In 2001, V-Day was named one of Worth magazine’s “100 Best Charities.”

Last year, V-Day sponsored the “Spotlight on Afghan Women” to raise funds for Afghan women working for change within their country. This year, V-Day has launched the theme “Afghanistan is Everywhere: A Spotlight on Native American and First Nations Women.” This program will call attention to the epidemic levels of violence against women and girls that occur in Indian Country. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the rate of incidence of rape or sexual assault is 3.5 times higher among Native Americans than any other race in the United States. However, Native American women victims of violence are often discouraged from pursuing justice because of a history of cultural and personal oppression; fear of familial reprisal and shame; and the overlapping and confusing federal, state, and tribal legal jurisdictions that can hinder investigations and prosecutions.

This is the fourth year that The Vagina Monologues has been performed at UNCW. In order to participate in the V-Day College Campaign, performances must be staged in on-campus venues and productions must be primarily student-run, student-acted and student-directed.

The “V” in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine, and Vagina. For additional information, visit the V-Day web site at www.vday.org.

The mission of the Women’s Resource Center at UNCW is to increase awareness and understanding of women's concerns, needs, and challenges, by serving as the administrative home for the women’s studies minor, coordinating campus programming related to women, creating a safe and equitable environment for all members of the campus community, and facilitating outreach and cooperative endeavors with community agencies that work on behalf of women.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Ervin, director of UNCW Women’s Resource Center at (910) 962-3650.