For the fifth year, Union College students will present "The Vagina Monologues" as part of the worldwide "V-Day" effort to raise awareness and money to stop violence against women and girls.
Darcia Datshkovsky "10 will direct and Kaitlin Canty "08 will produce Eve Ensler"s award-winning play at Old Chapel Thursday, Feb. 15, and Friday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 17, 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at the door.
"Last year, we sold out both of our performances and raised more than $2,000," said Canty. Of that, 90 percent went to Schenectady YWCA for its programs to stop domestic violence and its battered women"s shelter; 10 percent went to the V-Day Spotlight Campaign: Justice for Comfort Women.
This year, the YWCA is the primary beneficiary again, and 10 percent of profits will go to the 2007 V-Day Spotlight Campaign: Women in Conflict Zones.
The V-Day College Campaign invites members of college and university communities around the world to present benefit productions of "The Vagina Monologues" on their campuses over a four-week period each spring. The Obie Award-winning play, created and first performed by Ensler in 1996, has been translated into more than 35 languages and performed worldwide. Ensler"s experience performing the show inspired her to create the global movement called V-Day.
This year, some 1,100 V-Day events will be held, with performances in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and throughout America. There will be more than 100 shows in New York.
V-Day is officially celebrated on Feb. 14 each year in an effort to reduce the high number of sexual assault incidences that take place on Valentine"s Day.
Joining Canty in the Union campus cast are Kelsey Allen-Dicker '07, Rachel Curtis '08, Melanie Gonzalez '10, Sara Horowitz '10, Carley Jacobson '10, Christine Y. Kim '10, Meagan Keenan '09, Julie Lichtblau '10, Clyanna Lightbourn '10, Lisa McManus '10, Marcela Oliva '09, Keegan Peters "08, Genevieve St. Hilaire '10, Jessica Sosa '10 and Samantha Zayas '10.
The fundraising committee, chaired by Keenan, includes Elizabeth Buck '07, Canty, Courtney Coffin '09, Curtis, Colleen Easton '09, Megan Kaknis '09, Brittany Miller '09, Christina Vincent '09, Lisa Vallee '10 and Zayas.
Other fund-raising efforts at Union include sales of T-shirts, flowers and lollipops in the Reamer Campus Center.
For more information about V-Day, go to www.vday.com.