Carleton College was one of 130 colleges that participated in this
year's V-Day College Initiative, which centered around simultaneous performances of Eve Ensler's off-Broadway, Obie award-winning play "The Vagina Monologues." Presented by Carleton's female activist group, the Collective for Women's Issues (CWI), the series of monologues was performed on Valentine's Day by 15 female students and Ruth Weiner, a professor of theater arts and English, before packed house at The Cave, Carleton's student nightclub. The event raised $150, which was donated
to the Women's Safe Center in Faribault, Minn.
Ensler, a playwright, poet, and activist, based the monologues upon interviews she conducted with women ages six to 75. She used the word "vagina," to prompt discussions of violence, female sexuality, and feminism. Within the last three years, Ensler has performed "The Vagina Monologues" worldwide and it's currently playing off-Broadway.
In 1998, Ensler organized a gala performance of the play with actresses Lily Tomlin, Winona Ryder, Glenn Close, and Whoopi Goldberg. This event was an organized response to sexual violence against women and an attempt to recast Valentine's Day as a celebration of female empowerment. The event received such critical acclaim that the following year Ensler founded the V-Day College Initiative, to include college-age women in the movement and allow them to perform the monologues on their college
campuses.
Maryann Overland, president of CWI amd a senior women's studies major from Medford, Ore., was responsible for Carleton's participation in V-Day. She registered the college through the V-Day web site, and the event organizers provided CWI with a script of the play and performance guidelines from Ensler.
"The hardest task was dividing up the monologues to involve as many students as possible. The interest from Carleton students was overwhelming," said Renee Willette, a sophomore political science major from Minneapolis.
"It was so rewarding to participate both in the V-Day nationwide movement and the Carleton performance. I was impressed by the number of students who attended the performance and supported its positive message about female empowerment," said Erin Brown, a senior English major from Boise, Idaho.
As part of its ongoing effort to raise awareness about gender issues, CWI hopes to make V-Day an annual event. "V-Day gives us the opportunity to celebrate women's voices in a non-threatening manner. Watching the play, you do not have to interact in the same way as you would in a discussion. The monologues encourage you to think about women's issues while they entertain you," Willette said.