Fund-raiser stages excerpts of 'Vagina Monologues'

Across the country, productions of Eve Ensler’s "The Vagina Monologues" have drawn overwhelming praise along with raising money for organizations working to end violence against women.

Tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. in the University of Hawai‘i’s Kuykendall Room 101, selected portions of the much-talked-of work will be read by a number of prominent Hawai‘i authors and artists in an effort to raise awareness of the work being done in Hawai‘i to stop abuse of women.

The event is sponsored by the UH-Manoa Women’s Center, the Center for Biographical Research, SEED (Student Equity, Excellence and Diversity) and the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

The "Monologues" are a collection of interviews with women of all ages, racial backgrounds and ethnicities first produced in an Obie-award-winning play in 1996. Some vignettes are based on one woman’s story, others are a compilation.

". . . Down there? I haven’t been down there since 1953. No, it had nothing to do with Eisenhower. No, no, it’s a cellar down there. It’s very damp, clammy. You don’t want to go down there. Trust me. You’d get sick. Suffocating. Very nauseating. The smell of the clamminess and the mildew and everything. Whew! Smells unbearable. Gets in your clothes . . ."

In 1999, the production opened off-Broadway to great acclaim and has since been picked up by groups around the world, staged for fund-raising purposes - both because of its intriguing subject matter and the relative ease with which it can be staged. The most recent production occurred on Valentine’s Day at Madison Square Garden with 70 prominent actresses reading from the work.

The free production on the Manoa campus tomorrow will last for two hours. Representatives from the Sex Abuse Treatment Center and Sisters Offering Support will staff literature tables, and donations may be made to these organizations.

"I can’t tell you this. I can’t do this, talk about down there. You just know it’s there. Like the cellar . . ."

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