‘Monologues’ for a cause to be performed this weekend

Katie Greenwald

Looking for a great date idea just in time for V-Day?

Look no farther than “The Vagina Monologues” at Kent State Auditorium on Feb. 11 and 12 at 8 p.m., and Feb.13 at 2 p.m.

Students can watch their friends and teachers perform and help raise money for rape and assault victims at the same time.

“The Vagina Monologues” is a composition of skits that range from having a serious overtone to being lighthearted and funny, said Kristen Tassone, the director and producer of the show.

“It’s an eye opening experience to see what goes on around the world to females,” said Maggie Brindley, who plays a transgender in the monologues.

This show will feature the ‘These Hands Don‘t Hurt Women’ campaign, and it promises to be different than any performance of the monologues you may have seen before.

“They are all really unique,” Tassone said. “Our production is going to be more theatrical.”

Unlike many low budget presentations of the show, this one will include costumes.

All kinds of women have taken on roles in “The Vagina Monologues,” from high school students to famous actors. Some women are inspired to join the cast because of sexual violence they have experienced in their own lives, and some women choose to perform because they like the message behind the monologues, Tassone said.

Brindley joined the cast because “It’s for such a good cause.”

No men are allowed to perform in the show, Tassone said. It’s a rule strictly enforced because some women are there to heal.

But men do show up at the doors on opening night.

Tassone said they all seem to enjoy it. She has never heard a complaint from a man about the content of the show.

The creator of the monologues, Eve Ensler, created V-Day in 1998 in an effort to stop violence toward women and girls.

The ‘V’ in V-Day stands for victory, violence and vagina.

Every year events are held to help support programs that focus on ending sexual violence and raising money to increase awareness of sexual brutality. “The Vagina Monologues” is one such event.

In the first seven years alone, V-Day events have raised more than $25 million.

Tickets to “The Vagina Monologues” are $5 for students (with ID), $7 for faculty and staff and $8 for the general public. They are available now on the second floor of the Student Center, and extra tickets will be sold at the door.

Ten percent of the proceeds will go to help organizations such as Townhall II, a local support center for females who have been victims of sexual crimes.

For more information on V-Day visit www.vday.org.

Contact student finance reporter Katie Greenwald at [email protected].