Nationally-acclaimed Play Comes To CNU, Supports Local Organization

"Let's just start with the word "vagina." It sounds like an infection at best, maybe a medical instrument: 'Hurry nurse, bring me the vagina.'" - The Vagina Monologues

News Release - January 31, 2003
contact:
Denise Waters
dwaters@cnu.edu
757-594-7331

The critically acclaimed play The Vagina Monologues is coming to CNU on Feb. 7th and 8th. The play will be performed by the CNU players in conjunction with V-Day 2003, a national college campaign that aims to stop the violence against women and girls. Presented by Theater CNU and the Women & Gender Studies Department, the CNU players will perform the popular play. All proceeds from the CNU performance will go to Transitions, a Peninsula organization that helps battered women and children.

The Vagina Monologues, by Eve Ensler, is a riveting play about femininity and self-respect, all while discussing the very core of womanhood itself: the vagina. The premise of the play is the stories of five women and their experiences with growing up and appreciating their vaginas. Translated in 22 languages across the globe, Ensler’s play is continually sold-out on Off-Broadway’s Westside Theater and on London’s West End. Monologues initiated the global V-Day campaign and has been a sensation ever since its creation.

V-Day is a global movement that was founded by Eve Ensler. Through its fundraising benefits and awareness programs, V-Day helps anti-violence organizations throughout the world continue and expand their core work on the ground, while drawing public attention to the larger fight to stop worldwide violence against women and girls. In 2002, over 800 V-Day benefits and social campaigns were held between late January and April 2002 in theatres, houses of worship, and college campuses around the world in locations as diverse as Shanghai, China; Harlem, NY; Sacramento, CA; Nova Scotia, Canada; Duluth, MN; and Cebu City in the Philippines.

In just five years, V-Day has raised over $13.5 million and was recently named one of Worth Magazine’s "100 Best Charities." Approximately 10% of all proceeds from V-Day 2002 productions worldwide were earmarked for the women of Afghanistan.

The local organization CNU is supporting is Transitions Family Violence Services, the "sole provider of comprehensive family violence services in Hampton Newport News and Poquoson, and a co-provider of services for York County." A non-profit organization created in 1977, Transitions is funded by United Way and has "sheltered more than 12,000 victims of abuse for more than 120,000 nights of shelter." Transitions mission is the build safe and healthy families.

The Vagina Monologues will be performed in CNU’s Shoebox Theater, located in Ferguson room 122. The Feb. 7th performance is at 5:00 p.m. and the Feb. 8th performances are at 2:30 and 8:00 p.m. There will be a panel discussion following the 2:30 p.m. showing – all are invited. The admission prices are $10.00 for general admission, $5.00 for students. Tickets are on sale now. The CNU Box Office can be contacted at (757) 594-8752. For more information, please contact CNU’s Director of Theater Steven Breese at (757) 594-8825 or at sbreese@cnu.edu. The Vagina Monologues contains adult language and mature themes.