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News Release

January 30, 2006

Vagina Monologues Performances to Raise Funds, Awareness

The award-winning play The Vagina Monologues is being performed at the University of Guelph Feb. 2 to 4 to raise funds for a number of women’s organizations both on and off campus. It will be performed at 8 p.m. nightly in War Memorial Hall.

The shows are part of the V-Day campaign, an international initiative to raise awareness of sexual violence against women and girls. Proceeds from the play will go to U of G’s Sexual Assault-Free Environment (SAFE) team and the Women’s Resource Centre, and to Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. “We’re also creating an undergraduate scholarship fund for a deserving woman who has been a victim of violence,” said student Amanda Ballard, the event’s media relations co-ordinator.

In addition, 10 per cent of the money raised will go to V-Day’s national campaign to benefit Comfort Women, an organization that supports women who experienced sexual abuse and slavery during the Second World War.

Since it was first presented in 1996, The Vagina Monologues, a collection of stories and monologues based on interviews conducted by Ensler, has been performed in hundreds of cities around the world.

“The Vagina Monologues has a place in every city, town and village until the day women can live in peace and without fear,” said Ballard, who is also performing in the play along with several other members of the U of G community, including Prof. Kim Renders of the School of English and Theatre Studies; Prof. Jan Hall of the Department of Clinical Studies at the Ontario Veterinary College; and Deborah Woodman, an instructor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

From Feb. 1 to March 8, students at more than 700 colleges and universities around the world will stage V-Day benefits of the play to raise funds and awareness of the violence that affects one in three women.

Since the 1999 launch of the V-Day college campaign, the play has raised $30 million for organizations fighting for the rights of women. Last year’s performances at U of G brought in $16,000.

V-Day University of Guelph is sponsored by the Student Life Enhancement Fund, the Women’s Campus Safety Initiative Fund, the College of Arts Student Union, the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences Student Alliance, Interhall Council and the Central Student Association.

Tickets are $10 and are available at the Central Student Association office in Room 274 of the University Centre, the Wellness Centre on the second floor of the Powell Building and at the door. Tickets will also be sold Feb. 1 in the MacKinnon Building lobby from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Feb. 2 in the MacNaughton Building lobby from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.