Voice To The Voiceless | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post, Grace Haskin, is a contributor to ECU News Services.

ECU hosts "The Vagina Monologues," several V-Day events

    East Carolina University is one of thousands of campuses across the country participating in "V-Day," a global movement to open dialogue and end violence against women and girls.

    On Valentine's Day 1998, Eve Ensler, an American playwright and activist, established V-Day with the simple mission of ending violence against women and girls. To do this, groups around the world annually perform Ensler's famous play, The Vagina Monologues, and host other awareness-raising events.

    What began as one event in New York City in 1998 today includes more than 5,800 annual V-Day events.

    ECU will be hosting The Vagina Monologues on Feb. 17. All proceeds raised by the performance will benefit the Center for Family Violence Prevention in Greenville.

    "Women's issues are everyone's issues," said Alexandra Theus, an ECU student and co-director of the play. "It is our responsibility as a community to raise awareness about the injustice that goes on within and without the campus."

    ECU's V-Day events began on Feb. 8 in Hendrix Theater with a screening of the acclaimed documentary Half the Sky. Inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, the documentary introduces women and girls who are living under difficult circumstances and fighting to change their situation.

    Presented by the Panhellenic Council, the largest women's organization on ECU's campus, Half the Sky urged viewers to help to transform oppression into opportunity.

    Another event, the Pirate Clothesline Project, will be held Feb. 11 to promote awareness on women's issues and to create a space for conversation about domestic violence and sexual assault. Participants will decorate and hang T-shirts in the Mendenhall Student Center brickyard.

    The Panhellenic Council will also host a candlelight vigil at the brickyard at Mendenhall Student Center on Feb. 16 at 5:30 p.m.

    "Our partners in bringing V-Day to campus wanted to honor women in eastern North Carolina working to end violence and oppression in their lives," said Mark Rasdorf, assistant director for the LGBT Resource Office. "The candlelight vigil is an opportunity for us to come together as a community to send a message of love and support to women and girls in our community."

    ECU students will perform The Vagina Monologues at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 in Wright Auditorium.

    The play addresses multiple aspects of the feminine experience including the physical body, empowerment and the ultimate embodiment of individuality. Co-directed by Roxie Patton, a program specialist in the ECU Office of Equity and Diversity, and Theus, the cast includes eight students, two staff members and one member of the community.

    "It's a great show, but also is an opportunity to empower women from all walks of life," said Theus, a junior theater major. "'The Vagina Monologues' facilitates open and frank discussion about the aspects of women's experiences that are often left unrecognized despite their gravity and pertinence."

    Patton stressed the importance of opening a dialogue about womanhood on campus. "Our students are playing an active role in the performance, which we hope will give a voice to the voiceless and drive all women toward empowerment," she said.

    Tickets are $5 for ECU students and $10 for faculty, staff and the public. Tickets can be purchased through the ECU Central Ticket Office and online at www.ecuarts.com. The play contains strong language and adult content and is intended for mature audiences.

    Free event parking is available in the lot behind Wright Auditorium and Messick Theater, in the parking lots across 10th Street and at the bottom of ECU College Hill. No sticker or permit is required for the event.

    The production is co-sponsored by the ECU LGBT Resource Office, the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center, Student Conduct Board, the Department of Sociology and Student Involvement and Leadership Co-Curricular Programming.

    For more information about V-Day events at ECU, contact Mark Rasdorf at (252) 737-4451.


Alexandra Theus, center, a theater major and co-director of the ECU production of The Vagina Monologues, shares a laugh with actors during warm-ups before rehearsal.