The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 2/17/05 Section: Arts

Media Credit: Ari Joseph "Vagina Monologues" performers engage in heated discussion about embarrassing adolescent moments in "When I Was Twelve." [Click to enlarge]

Valentine's Day is regarded by many as a senseless holiday, a gimmick created by Hallmark to make a few more bucks. Middlebury students, however, are using the holiday in a positive way - to support the non-profit group Women's Safe and to promote a discussion of issues surrounding women on campus and around the globe. "The Vagina Monologues," an award-winning play by women's rights pioneer and Middlebury College alumna Eve Ensler '75, was performed as part of this "V-Day" celebration in McCullough Student Center on Feb. 14 to an enthusiastic crowd.

Ensler wrote "The Vagina Monologues" as a way of relating to a large audience the often taboo issues in women's lives - issues ranging from the stupidity of thong underwear to incest and rape. The response from women - and men - around the globe led Ensler to create "V-Day" in 1998. The "V" in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina. The non-profit organization is dedicated to ending violence against women around the globe. It has spread to over 300 college campuses, leading many schools to sponsor a performance of Ensler's play on Valentine's Day as a move to raise awareness towards the issue of violence against women.

Middlebury students have performed the play on Valentine's Day to large crowds for several years. This year the profits from ticket sales and a silent auction of student and local artwork that also took place on Feb. 14 will be donated to Women's Safe - a non-profit organization dedicated to ending domestic violence.

The play, directed by Rebecca Kanengiser '05.5 and Eliza Hulme '05, is based on interviews Ensler conducted with over 200 women about their memories and experiences of sexuality. The play explores women's deepest fears about sex and often their deepest fantasies as well.

Moving from a hilarious interview with a 72-year-old woman recounting her first orgasm to a Bosian woman telling a terrifying story of war and rape, the play portrays the trials and the joys of being a woman and of having a vagina.

Continued...

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