The Woman Center hosted a benefit production of Eve Ensler’s award winning play “The Vagina Monologues” Wednesday at Witherspoon Cinema. It will be presented again today.
“The Vagina Monologues” is part of part of V-Day, a global movement which raises funds and awareness to end violence against women and girls around the world.
All proceeds from the production go to a fund established by the Women’s Center for improving interpersonal violence services such as the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Interact, a United Way agency which provides support to victims of rape and domestic violence.
Kathleen Hebert, a junior in agricultural extension and the director of the production, said this year production decided to put the money back into the Women’s Center, particularly the rape crisis line.
“It [the crisis line] just needs a little revamping,” Herbert said. “It’s extremely important, given the rape statistics on this campus, that resources are made available to women. We just wanted to give back to the community so it’s going to Interact as well.”
Each year V-Day focuses on a specific group of women in the world that is resisting violence against women.
This year, 10 percent of the proceeds from the production will go to Stop Raping our Greatest Resource, a campaign initiated by the woman of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to end violence against women and girls.
During the last section of the play Adrianna Harrell, a senior in English, said women and girls in the Congo are raped everyday and the world silent.
“It’s not just them suffering, it’s us too. Were all connected,” Harrell said. “As woman we all know the different pains and the constant struggle of not knowing what’s going to happen next.”
She said the war in Congo is a systematic destruction of the female population.
“They have to go through so much pain and torture,” Harrell said. “This is an inspiring call to speak up. We have to do something about this and speak up for those people.”
Rakita Henry, a junior in fashion and textiles management, volunteered to act for one of the monologues.
Henry said the production they chose to do was the testimonial because it had someone who was from the Congo.
“She told her story about it, and she knows stories of people who have dealt with child slavery and stuff like that,”
Henry said. “It was really powerful. Women and children are affected there every day.” Henry said she had never seen “The Vagina Monologues” before she volunteered.
“It kind of sparked my interest,” Henry said. “I was curious to see what it was about.”
Henry said the word “vagina” is such a powerful word in so many different ways to so many different women.
“It just brought more light to the understanding of how important it is to be a woman and what it’s like to be a woman,” Henry said.
Hebert said she hopes the women who see this play will change their perspective and see how important they are, not just as a person but also as a female.
“I hope, too, that people will wake up to their sexual potential,” she said. “Our culture definitely suppresses women’s sexuality, and it definitely needs to be out there.”
Kenneth Griffith, a student in fashion design at Wake Tech, said he had great respect for the play.
“It definitely accomplished what it sought out to, as far as awareness in a comedic type of way,” Griffith said. “I like how they played on the comedy aspect, but they also evoked the seriousness of what’s really going on in Congo.”
Griffin also said some spots of the production made him uncomfortable.
“Not because of maturity, but more because a lot of times it’s not talked about,” he said. “It was the shock value of what I’m hearing.”
Hebert said this production is extremely relevant to the University because college students today are under so much pressure, sexually, mentally and emotionally.
“You forget what it’s like to be a woman and how to appreciate being a woman,” Hebert said. “I think this play can really wake women up and let them come to a better understanding [of themselves].”
