On Feb. 15 – 16, The Vagina Monologues will come back to Virginia Tech for its annual V-Day Performance in the Haymarket Theatre in Squires Student Center.

V-day is a global movement to stop the violence against women and girls. This includes rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), and sexual slavery. It is a medium that promotes creative events (such as The Vagina Monologues themselves) to increase awareness, raise money, and renew the spirit of previously existing anti-violence organizations. The Vagina Monologues is a collaborative production of the Virginia Tech V-day Initiative, the Department of Theatre Arts, and the Women’s Center.

Playwright Eve Ensler first performed The Vagina Monologues in New York in 1996. She turned her research on violence against women and girls into an entertaining performance with both comical and disturbing stories in order to make the public more aware of such situations. The monologues consist of anything from jokes about womanhood, to first-person accounts of sexual mutilation and torture. The performance has been such a success throughout the years that it is now performed in 45 languages, and there are now V-Day activists in 119 countries.

So far, performances of The Vagina Monologues have raised more than $50 million for local anti-violence groups in more than 120 countries. “V-Day now raises more money than any group in the world to stop violence against women,” Ensler said. When the performance came to VT in 2005, the performance raised $15,000 for the Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley, Virginia Tech’s International Women in Need (IWiN), and for V-Day International’s spotlight campaign: The Women of Iraq. “Not only does it support a good cause, but it’s a good time; a really entertaining show,” said Virginia Tech student Alyssa Yassine.

One of the interesting, attention-grabbing aspects of the performance is that many of the monologues are presented by ordinary women—not always by famous actresses. For the performance that will be held this year at Virginia Tech, auditions were held in late November on the VT campus. No previous experience or memorization was necessary for the auditions and all women from all backgrounds and of all ages were encouraged to audition for the performance.

“From my experience being involved in VT’s V-Day in the past (2003 and 2005 Vagina Monologues) tickets do sell out and there is a full house for all shows,” said Virginia Tech alumnus Katie Ownby. There were even T-shirts being sold, available by pre-order to wear for the performances. The deadline to pre-order the T-shirts was Jan. 11, making it clear that the show is highly anticipated.

Tickets went on sale Jan. 28 at the Women’s Center on Virginia Tech’s campus. Tickets will also be available for purchase in Squires Student Center on multiple dates. Call the Women’s Center at 540.231.7806 to check on ticket availability.

Meghan George is a Media Studies student at Radford University and an intern at the New River Voice.