Stevens’ fencing team and DeBaun Performing Arts Center hosted The Vagina Monologues for the 17th year in a row at Stevens, this past Thursday. Tickets cost $5, and all proceeds went to WomenRising Inc., an organization that supports women and children who are victims of domestic violence in Hudson County. The event was a collaborative effort between the College of Arts and Letters’ Literature Faculty and Women’s Fencing.
WomenRising’s mission is to assist women and their families to achieve self-sufficiency and live safe, productive, and fulfilling lives. They provide services such as emergency shelter, counseling, crisis intervention, workforce development and job placement, outreach, advocacy, and referrals. Along with the production, the fencing team and Debaun also hosted a special pre-show event at the Elysian Cafe, where all $15 of the ticket was donated to WomenRising as well.
The Vagina Monologues are read for V-Day in February; V-Day is a global non-profit movement that has arisen around the play to help groups that work to end violence against women and children. It takes place exclusively in the month of February to focus its global effort and maximize its impact. Each year, thousands of V-Day benefit events take place, produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world.
It was first written in 1996 and has been updated nearly every year with a monologue that has to do with modern issues affecting women. Each monologue is written to address different aspects of the female experience, from the first menstrual period to sexual harassment, but ultimately it thematically focuses on the vagina as a mode of female empowerment and moving away from its taboo nature in society.
Jessica Martin, a volunteer for the Vagina Monologues, expresses why she became involved in the production. “[I loved] being a part of the show surrounded with supportive, funny, lovely women. Since we have so many common experiences with each other, being that we are all women and have vaginas, performing the show together makes us like a little community. The pride of sharing strong, positive values with the audience that we all have after the performance is almost tangible.”
Along with Martin, the cast consists of Kristin Allocco, Natalie Barillaro, Elisa Brieva, Caroleen Chen, Kristie Damell, Dana Desantis, Jacqueline Farzan, Joyce Flinn, Clea Flinn, Phoebe Lai, Ruthy Levi, Julie McEldoon, Laure Michelson, Molly Molino, Monica Moser, Joyce Pegler, Deanna Quackenbush, Emily Rautenberg, Melika Roberson, and Linda Volkommer, with director Liz Lamb, an alum from class of 2015. Kristie Damell closed the show by singing Aretha Franklin’s “Respect”.
“I think the Monologues are a really great way to remove the stigma around female sexuality and to bring different perspectives to the female experience,” says Karen Kong, member of the women’s varsity fencing team, “On top of that, the V-Day initiative raises money and awareness to help end domestic violence against women, which is an amazing cause.”
Kong and the rest of the fencing team have been hard at work this past month advertising and selling tickets for the event. To learn more about the V-Day organization and the causes they support, visit their official website at www.vday.org
Be First to Comment