Fem Fest continues at The Hub Arts Collective with a three-night performance of The Vagina Monologues this week.
“This year marks The Vagina Monologues’ 15th anniversary, so get ready to laugh, cry, rise up and dance,” said Jessika LaFramboise with theatre86 who is organizing the event locally.
Hailed by The New York Times as “funny” and “poignant” and by the Daily News as “intelligent” and “courageous,” The Vagina Monologues was first performed off-Broadway by feminist writer Eve Ensler.
An episodic play, The Monologues have become a global movement to bring awareness of violence against women.
Performed typically around Valentine’s Day, the Monologues are stories told about the feminine experience, exploring the mystery, humour, pain, power, wisdom, outrage and excitement buried in women’s experiences, said LaFramboise.
As Ensler performed the play to great acclaim throughout the world, so have the women’s groups, celebrities and others who have taken the monologues and helped launch V-Day, and One Billion Rising, global non-profit movements that have raised more than $75 million and awareness for women’s anti-violence groups.
“On Feb. 14, 2013, V-Day’s 15th anniversary, theatre86 will join activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities, and women and men across the world as we express their outrage, demand change, strike, dance, and rise in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women,” said LaFramboise, who will be joined by Wendy Chambers, Michelle Clarke-Brown, and Molly Woodford in the evening of entertainment, laughter, and fundraising.
“Each night there will be an auction, a raffle, 50/50 tickets and door prizes, with all proceeds going to the First Nations Friendship Centre and the Vernon Women’s Transition House.”
The performance of The Vagina Monologues will be staged at The Hub, 2906 30th Ave., downtown Vernon Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets ($15) are available at the Ticket Seller, 549-7469, www.ticketseller.ca.
To learn more about FemFest or V-Day Vernon 2013 or to become involved in the movement, e-mail vday.vernon@theatre86.com or find them on Facebook (under V-Day Vernon or theatre86).
