The Vagina Monologues will open its 10th annual performance at 8 p.m. today in the Eastern Michigan University Student Center Auditorium.
“It’s very exciting” said Jessica Klein, Program Coordinator for the Women’s Resource Center and producer of the show.
The Vagina Monologues program at Eastern has raised about $100,000 for anti-violence organizations, which include the Ann Arbor-based Safe House and First Step, based in Wayne County.
Eve Ensler first performed The Vagina Monologues in 1994, and the V-Day campaign, about fighting violence against women, began four years later. Every year, Ensler gives up the rights to her play both to colleges and organizations around the world, on the condition any proceeds will be devoted to anti-violence organizations.
The Monologues cover topics from sex, love and discovering one’s sexuality to practical topics like birth and periods — “It’s about everything,” Klein said.
Despite the fact many of the same monologues are performed again and again “its different every year,” Klein said. “It depends on the director and the cast.”
This year, Leslie Rzeznik, webmaster for the College of Arts and Sciences, is directing her third set of Monologues. “It’s a lot of work, but its fun work,” Rzeznik said of directing. “The cast is just great to work with.”
But more than just being fun for the people involved, the Monologues are about service.
“We’re doing it to help the community out” Rzeznik said. “The big picture is, women are at more risk of being abused than men.”
Not only do the Monologues help the community out, but through the V-day organization, The Vagina Monologues fund education and programs in developing countries, they “help locally and globally,” Rzeznik said.
The Monologues also bring together a wide array of people; “Women come from such a diverse spectrum across campus, its interesting to see how all those gaps are bridged…we have so many talented women this year,” Rzeznik said.
“It brings out the commonalities among women,” Klein said. But the event is not only for women, Klein emphasizes, “this is for everyone.”
“It’s a great way to laugh and cry at the same time,” Rzeznik added.
“It’s a good tradition, I like that it’s a very untraditional form, very creative form of talking about domestic violence,” said Tanya, a volunteer for the Women’s Resource Center.
The Women’s Resource Center will also be holding a reVULVAlation display next week Wednesday from 12-8 p.m., with a question and answer session from 4-6 p.m. The purpose of the display is “normalizing a woman’s body…we make penis jokes all the time” but people don’t like to talk about vaginas, Klein explained.
The Monologues will also play tomorrow and Saturday, both at 8 p.m.
Tickets are available at the Student CEnter, Quirk, and Convocation Center box offices. Student tickets are $12 a piece, whereas general admission will be $14.
