2008 Woodie Awards
Women will use voices to help end violence
Kim Gailliard
Issue date: 1/22/08 Section: News
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The show, directed by Associate Professor of theatre history Dr. Dawn Larsen, will start at 8 p.m. in the Hyman Fine Arts Center theatre. Tickets are $10 per person, and 10 percent of the proceeds will go to author/playwright Eve Ensler's V-Day organization.
"V-Day is (Ensler's) way of raising money and awareness for the issue of domestic violence," Larsen said.
The organization has targeted a wide range of violent acts against women, such as female genital mutilation, sexual slavery, rape and incest.
Since its founding in 1998, V-Day has become one of the most powerful voices in a movement to ensure that "all women live in safety, no longer fearing violence or the threat of violence," according to its Web site, www.vday.org.
"The V-Day Celebration is a period of several weeks in February and March where (Ensler) will allow a college or community organization to do 'The Vagina Monologues' royalty free as long as they donate most of the proceeds to a shelter that protects women and children," Larsen said.
The remaining 90 percent of the profits will be donated to the Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Assault.
Christie Saffold, director of volunteer and community relations for the coalition, wants the performance to spread awareness about the V-Day cause.
"We want people to understand what V-Day is and what the funds will directly benefit, and what the Pee Dee Coalition does," Saffold said. "The money will go to anything that's needed to assist victims of sexual assault, court advocacy and crisis lines…"
This is the first time the monologues will be performed on campus - a fact that has Saffold excited about the play's potential to reach those in the community who know or are victims of violence.
"I think it's an opportunity for us to spread awareness of… how the organization helps women," she said.
Participating in V-Day is especially personal for Larsen, who has a history of abuse in her family.
"For me, I couldn't be objective enough about it until it was brought to my attention that what was happening in my life was wrong - that that's not the way a life should (be)," Larsen said.
She hopes others in similar situations will begin to examine their own circumstances and realize there is a way out.
"It's when you expose abuse that we can start having intelligent conversations about it and begin to help people out of it," Larsen said. "If one person comes to the play and goes, 'Man, something reminds me about my life, and now I'm aware that maybe I should make some changes,' that's important to me."
For more information about "The Vagina Monologues" or V-Day, visit www.vday.org.
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