Vaginas speak up

Since 1997, Valentine's Day has helped nurture women in a way that even a large heart-shaped box of chocolates cannot.

On Friday, Princeton will take part in a powerful call to arms as one of more than 300 college campuses performing Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" to help stop violence against women.

The play, a series of monologues that lament women's subjugation and celebrate their quest for autonomy, is directed by Jade Guanchez '06 and Katrina Rogachevsky '07, and will guest star students as well as Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson, Associate Dean of the College Nancy Kanach, and professors Maria DiBattista, Marie Griffith and Kyle Vanderlick.

Dickerson, who participated in a similar project at Duke University, "found that it had a very empowering effect on the participants and the community."

Dickerson said she wanted to participate because "it is important that we are, as women, prepared to speak publicly about issues of sexuality, which are often silenced."

The University's performance will benefit the nonprofit Womanspace, a shelter for battered women in Trenton and the only service for victims of domestic and sexual abuse in Mercer County. The shelter offers counseling, support and emergency services.

Allison Wood '07, who saw the show last year when it was performed in Frist Theater at Princeton, recalls that is was "really edgy and interesting and quite entertaining."

As Ensler explained on her publisher's website, the impetus for penning her book turned play was her belief that "women's empowerment is deeply connected to their sexuality."

In response to criticism her play has received for its shocking and at times disturbing monologues, Ensler said, "The piece is controversial. It's not politically correct."

While the Vagina Monologues address difficult and at times painful topics, they draw from real life experiences. Ensler attributes her willingness to air them in a public forum to the "very deep hunger to talk about what was going on."

The Vagina Monologues will be performed tomorrow at 8 p.m. in Richardson Auditorium.