DATE: February 11, 2008
CONTACT:
Richard Goodstein, (864) 656-3043
regst@clemson.edu
CONTACT:
Carrie Ann Collins, (864) 656-1569
carrie1@clemson.edu
WRITER:
Glenn Hare, (864) 656-1478
ghare@clemson.edu
'Vagina Monologues' playwright Eve Ensler to speak at Clemson
Clemson Players to present 'The Vagina Monologues'
CLEMSON — Award-winning playwright, performer and activist Eve Ensler will speak at Clemson University March 10. Ensler’s free presentation is part of V To The Tenth, a global celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of V-Day, a world-wide movement to end violence against women and girls.
Ensler’s speech takes place in the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts at 4 p.m. on Monday, March 10. A question-and-answer session and book signing will follow her presentation. Later that evening, at 8 p.m., the Clemson Players will perform Ensler’s award-winning play “The Vagina Monologues” in the performing arts center.
Tickets for “The Vagina Monologues” are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets for the performance will be sold before and after Ensler’s presentation and before the show. Information is available at www.clemson.edu/Brooks.
Based on more than 200 interviews of women from around the world, “The Vagina Monologues” is a collection of monologues performed by women who share their views about their vaginas. Their stories convey intimacy, vulnerability and sexual self-discovery. The monologues — some hilarious, some heartbreaking — explore questions often pondered, but seldom asked.
“The Vagina Monologues” premiered off-Broadway in 1996 and now is performed frequently on college campuses to increase awareness, raise money and aide local anti-violence organizations. The Clemson Players production will benefit Safe Harbor in Greenville. Safe Harbor provides emergency shelter and counseling for victims of domestic violence and their children.
“I think it’s vitally important that Eve chose Clemson as one her tour stops,” said Carrie Ann Collins, a Clemson theater professor and event organizer. “The Clemson Players have presented the play for five years in an effort to promote more awareness of violence against women. However on several occasions, certain segments of the student body have responded with hostility towards our V-Day campaigns due to either ignorance or a misunderstanding of the play’s content. The stories of the women in ‘The Vagina Monologues’ need to be told in order to stop the abuse of future of women and girls. Hopefully, having Eve on campus will highlight the message that violence against women and girls is serious, and that we can help stop it through education, empowerment and care.”
Clemson’s, College of Arts, Architecture and Humanities; performing arts department; women’s studies program; Redfern Health Center; Human Adventure Symposium; and Clemson benefactor MaryAlice Mayberry are sponsors of Ensler’s appearance.
Eve Ensler biography
Eve Ensler is a playwright, performer and activist. She is the award-winning author of “The Vagina Monologues,” which has been translated into 45 languages and performed in more than 120 countries. Ensler’s other plays include “Necessary Targets,” “Conviction,” “Lemonade,” “The Depot,” “Floating Rhoda and the Glue Man” and “Extraordinary Measures.”
Ensler is the founder and artistic director of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls, which has raised more than $50 million in nine years. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship Award in Playwriting.