Carolinian

Issue date: 2/14/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: PHOTO COURTESY MATT FRANKLAND/SPECIAL TO THE CAROLINIAN Hannah Davis performs "The Woman Who Loved To Make Vaginas Happy."

For seven years playwright, performer and activist, Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues have been performed in theatres and on college campuses across the world. This past weekend, UNCG became one out of over 1,000 colleges worldwide performing the Vagina Monologues this year. Sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies department, the Monologues are being performed as part of the annual global V-Day campaign to stop violence against women and girls and to raise funds to promote awareness of the violence that occurs towards females.

Stephanie Barnes, an adult undergraduate student producer of the show, proposed the idea of performing the Vagina Monologues at UNCG to Sabrina Boyer, a graduate Women's and Gender Studies assistant and coordinator for the Monologues. Inspired by the research conducted in a project that focused on domestic violence and its affect on women and children in her introductory course for Women's and Gender studies, Barnes felt that she wanted to do something more.

Barnes felt that she needed to make sure people understood that domestic violence is a learned behavior. Barnes stated, "You can't just sit backù but must get involved, because education and advocacy is the number one thing that's going to change people's behavior."

All proceeds from the Monologues were donated to Clara House, a local shelter for abused women and children.

Actresses were chosen through auditions that were held January 11 and 12. Senior drama student and Director of the production, Glenn Weyler, and Program Administrator/ Outreach Coordinator for the Women's and Gender studies department, Carole Lindsey-Potter, sat through the auditions. Weyler had the final say on casting decisions for the show.

A cast of 17 diverse women, students (undergraduate and graduate), alumni, faculty and staff performed. Boyer wanted the performers to not only be theatre majors, but wanted to have women that would be acting for the first timeù. Weyler commented that he felt that the best cast was assembled that could be put together.

"All vaginas have a right to speak and I wanted to give a voice to as many vaginas as possible," Weyler stated.

Crooked Braidù, performed by Alice Franks, focused on the abuse Native American women face and their inability to escape it due to the lack of resources available on Indian reservations. Regina Henderson, a freshman at UNCG, said she related to the Crooked Braidù monologue because she had dealt with physical abuse in her family.

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