SMU students will present “The Vagina Monologues” as part of the 2006 V-Day College Campaign to benefit local organizations working to end violence against women.
The performances will be held tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Theater.
The majority of the proceeds from the production will go towards The Family Place, a shelter for battered women and children.
“The Vagina Monologues” are the cornerstone of the V-Day movement, whose participants stage performances of the show worldwide each Valentine’s Day.
Playwright Eve Ensler founded V-Day in 1998 after her experience performing the monologues inspired her to draw attention to the issue of violence against women.
“V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations,” according to the campaign’s Web site.
The performance is slightly different each year, with a new cast and a new director taking different interpretations. The annual standard monologues will be performed along with two new others, “They Beat the Girl out of my Boy- Or so they tried” and “The Memory of Her Face.”
There are 13 actors: Lara Arp, Mary Skidmore-Gibbs, Susan Harper-Bisso, Liza Oldham, Denise McIntosh, Angie Nozaleda, Gretchen Peter, Megan Shaw, Jenny Simon, Travis Acreman, Jacqueline Wells, Alex Cassar and Elizabeth Barrett.
Producer Kate Brown said rehearsals have been occurring on a daily basis for the last month and a half, but the performers have done such an amazing job that it has “felt perfect for quite a while.
“We practiced hard and it shows. We want the audience to realize the hope in ‘The Vagina Monologues.’ Women have been healed from traumatic experiences: abuse, rape, self-image,” Barrett said.
In seven years, the V-Day movement has raised over $25 million and was named one of Worth magazine’s “100 Best Charities.”
“The audience can expect a fantastic show that will not only teach them about cultural, physical, and verbal abuse, but also to appreciate the beauty and wonder of the human body,” said Brown, a junior.
Tickets will be $15 for general admission and $10 with an SMU ID. For reservations, call the SMU Women’s Center at 214-768-4792.
