Annual production celebrates womanhood, raises awareness of domestic violence
During this season of commercialized love and romance, a local production will promote awareness of darker, more noteworthy subjects: sexual assault and domestic violence.
“The Vagina Monologues,” a series of speeches by women who have gone through a variety of emotional experiences pertaining to their womanhood, shows the audience that a woman is worth “more than the sum of her parts.”
One of the purposes of producing “The Vagina Monologues” is to raise awareness about sexual violence and domestic violence.
“There are monologues that will make people laugh, and there are monologues that will make people cry,” said Leia Cain, an educational research graduate student and performer in the play.
Cain has also served as the director and producer of the show in past productions.
“Monologues” was first written in 1996 as a series of interviews conducted by Eve Ensler with women about their bodies and sexuality. First performed in New York’s Greenwich Village, the play has been translated into more than 48 languages and performed in more than 140 countries.
As Ensler began to perform the “Monologues,” she created an organization called V-Day to raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault against women all over the world. This gave her the opportunity to get people talking about domestic violence facilitated by the showing of the “Monologues,” in addition to three other plays, documentary screenings and teach-ins on a global scale.
“We perform the show around Valentine’s Day every year because the ‘V’ in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina,” said director Kassie Mae Miller, a graduate student in health promotion, education and behavior.
This will be Miller’s second year in a row directing the program and her third year involved with the play.
The “Monologues” serve another purpose besides raising awareness. While the darker, more serious monologues will tell of the tragedy that comes with sexual violence, others will be lighthearted and entertaining, addressing empowerment that comes along with being a woman.
“It’s a celebration of being a woman as well as raising awareness,” Cain said. “There is a lot of stuff on both sides, for happy and for sad.”
The play features a new monologue every year called the “spotlight monologue,” which focuses on recent political issues. The spotlight for this year involves the female population in Haiti, who are forced to deal with unchanging poverty and sexual violence following last year’s earthquake.
“Monologues” will be performed by local community members, as well as a diverse group of USC students. The actresses come from a variety of different majors, from theatre to law to English. They also come from a wide range of degree programs, including undergraduate, graduate and doctoral. The actresses will be required to read words from a note card or sheet of paper.
“Ensler wants to remind the audience that these are real women’s stories, and that they are not just made up,” Cain said.
As the performances are during the weekend before Valentine’s Day, Miller, Cain and the rest of the cast hope to attract a large audience, not just of local couples or individuals affected by domestic violence, but of all types of people.
Tickets for the event will be $8 for students and $10 for the public. All money raised from the event will be donated to the Women’s Shelter in honor of Jennifer Wilson, a professor from the USC College of Education who was murdered this past year in a case of domestic violence.
“According to the Family Violence Prevention Fund in 2007, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the U.S. every day,” Miller said. “We are still mourning the loss of Jennifer, as she was an incredible inspiration, too.”
The proceeds from all of the “Monologues” productions are donated to anti-violence organizations and sexual trauma services that help women recover from domestic abuse and sexual assaults. Last year, the show raised almost $7,000 to prevent domestic violence and sexual assault in our own community.
The productions will take place Feb. 10 to Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. in USC’s School of Law Auditorium, located at 701 Main St. For information on V-Day, go to www.vday.org.
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