'Vagina Monologues' bring violence awareness to UHCL

By Tina Divara

The University of Houston-Clear Lake will host a benefit performance of the award-winning episodic play “The Vagina Monologues” Feb. 27.
For those who are not familiar with the show, it is a series of monologues that focus on the experiences with an emotional tie to a woman’s vagina. The stories range from humorous to informational to heart-breaking.
The monologue performance is a sponsored collaboration between The Women’s Studies Student Association, The Women’s Studies program, the Office of International Initiatives and participating faculty, students and staff. This year, the play will raise awareness of the violence and atrocities committed against the women and girls of The Democratic Republic of Congo.  
Eve Ensler, the original author of the monologues, started the monologues from a downtown café shop in New York. Ten years later, she has given performances in Madison Square Garden, on cable networks such as HBO and is the founder of the V-Day Organization, which helps raise awareness of the violence against women and girls around the world.
Angela Howard, professor of U.S. and women’s history, has seen previous performances of the monologues and finds it a conscience-raising experience.
“It is a very provocative and thought-provoking play,” Howard said.
Howard commented that women of a more traditional upbringing were told never to talk about the subject in public, and the women who may attend might find the words said in the monologues shocking but true.
The original performance dates were set for Feb. 13-14, but due to a scheduling conflict the date was pushed back to Feb. 27. Jennifer Clark, coordinator of student life, stated that this is the first year that this particular play is going to be held at UHCL.
When the date was changed, so was the location from the Bayou Theater to the Garden Room. The reason for the change in location is that since there is no set budget for the event they want to test the feel of the play in a smaller venue to see what kind of audience response they will receive. Clark hopes that this event will be a great success so that next year they can set it up in a larger venue.
The cast performing the monologue is comprised of 18 women, representing a diverse mixture of students and faculty and staff.
Tonya Hammer, assistant professor of counseling in the School of Education, is one of the faculty chairwomen coordinating the event. She sees the play as a prelude to the upcoming Women’s History Month in March.
“We will utilize this event as a launching point to go into Women’s History Month,” Hammer said.
Out of 125 seats, 96 tickets have already been sold. Ticket cost is $5 per person and tickets must be reserved via e-mail at hammer@uhcl.edu. It is strongly recommended that reservations are made early to ensure a seat. Money for the tickets will be collected at the door on the night of the performance. The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Ten percent of the proceeds from the benefit performance will go to the V-Day Organization. The rest will go to the Bay Area Turning Point, which is a local organization that assists women in domestic violence situations find ways to stop the violence and offers them recovery solutions and support.