I'm not a Vagina Monologue virgin. I had it twice in one weekend last year. It was so good, I've been having flashbacks ever since! Sistas in the DC metro area: Rejoice! Eve Ensler’s international and controversial stage phenomenon, returns with an all-star cast, produced by Los Angeles-based YPP and Associates. Set for the historic Lincoln Theater on U Street, the play is currently on a benefit tour; showing on Saturday, February 16th at 8 PM.
Prepare yourself in advance to hear every nickname for the vagina imaginable: Poonani, Va-jay-jay and Powderbox being the most tame.
The production is everything it’s been talked up to be - since it's off-Broadway debut in 1996 - and so much more! After all, this black-centric version will mark the first time we can all check out Star Jones, former co-host of 'The View' and her replacement Sherri Shepherd on stage together, in the name of 'vagina.'
Other talented cast mates include Soul Food's Vanessa Williams, actress Dawnn Lewis (A Different World, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper), and a dozen others. You'll even peep the acting skills of my radio colleague and resident "sex-pert" Justine Love (WPGC). Famed comedian Michael Colyar will serve as Master of Ceremonies. A sell-out is promised! It's happening as you read this! No doubt, this provocative and daring performance is the ultimate female liberator! It's guaranteed to stretch the mind and explode with excitement from the start - like some unfortunate men!
On a serious note: This movement is about ending violence against women in all its forms. Gender inequality is the root of all of the atrocities that are committed against my sisters worldwide. It is the root of what is happening right now, this second, as you read this, to hundreds of women and girls--mothers, grandmothers and their daughters-- in conflict zones around the globe. It is a tool of war and it is a story the media won't tell. The violence doesn't end when our troops come home.
It's happening on college campuses, in high schools, next door, maybe even in the next bedroom. Violence against women is everywhere. You can't escape it.
The Vagina Monologues is made up of a number of monologues performed by a varying number of celebrity women. Every monologue somehow relates to the vagina, be it through sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the variety of names for the vagina, or simply as a physical aspect of the female body. A reoccurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality.
So I urge you to contemplate whatever resistance this column may have instigated in you. As a woman, I guarantee you'll be positively liberated! What's so hard about challenging deep seated notions for the sake of equality and peace? Plus, the star performances inside of DC's Lincoln Theater will all add up to an unforgettable evening!
V-Day for a good cause, or two
The local DC partner for V-Day is Men Can Stop Rape. Visit their booth at the show to discuss ways in which men can get involved in ending this epidemic.
The national beneficiary this year is Butterflies Fly Free, Inc., an organization working directly with women in prison, to combat violence against women and girls. Their mantra is: "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly."
The Vagina Monologues are the cornerstone of the V-Day movement. There are over 2,000 V-Day benefits planned worldwide in over 1,120 communities and on college campuses in celebration of V-Day's 10th Anniversary. Benefit performances of the show are staged each year between February 1st and March 8th, which is International Women's Day. This DC performance is part of V-Day's Worldwide Campaign.
