Theater: The Vagina Monologues (Benefit for HOPE Center) February 14, 2006

Carleton College?s Collective for Women?s Issues will present its annual V-Day benefit production of Eve Ensler?s ?The Vagina Monologues? on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. in Carleton?s Concert Hall. The event is open to the public, with a suggested donation of $5.

Ensler originally conceived the collection of soliloquies on intimacy, vulnerability and sexual self-discovery as a one-woman show. V-Day originated out of Ensler?s conversations with women who shared their experiences of violence with her after early performances. Today, benefit performances of ?The Vagina Monologues? often use multiple actors and some have featured celebrity all-star casts.

Carleton?s performances are a part of the V-Day College Campaign, which invites colleges worldwide to raise money to stop violence against women through benefit productions of ?The Vagina Monologues.? All donations from the Carleton performance will be given to the HOPE Center (formerly WomanSafe) in Faribault, a domestic abuse safe center serving Rice County.

Ensler has transformed V-Day into a global movement using performances of the play, documentary film projects and creative events designed to change social attitudes toward violence. Each year there are thousands of performances and benefit events held around the world, which together raise millions of dollars to benefit more than 1,000 organizations.

Each year V-Day draws attention to a particular group of women experiencing violence, to raise awareness for that group as well as to raise money to help organizations addressing that problem. On the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, the 2006 V-Day spotlight is ?Justice to Comfort Women.? (The euphemism ?comfort women? was coined by imperial Japan to refer to young females forced to offer sexual services to Japanese troops during World War II.)

Tickets for the performances will be sold in advance at Sayles-Hill Center from Feb. 8?10. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the door on the night of the performance. T-shirts, candy and pins also can be purchased.

For more information and disability accommodations, contact the Carleton Gender and Sexuality Center at (507) 646-5222.