V-Day Events Work to Stop Violence Against Women

Fifteen years ago, playwright Eve Ensler staged "The Vagina Monologues," a series of first-person staged accounts that brought women's realities to the stage. The experience inspired her to create V-Day, a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, via increasing awareness, raising money and revitalizing existing anti-violence organizations.

In 2012, more than 5,800 V-Day benefits took place around the world, and this year volunteers are staging events around Feb. 14 to further their ambitious new campaign, One Billion Rising, which hopes to galvanize a billion women to end violence.

"Statistics show that one out of every three women will experience violence in her lifetime... On V-Day's 15th Anniversary, we are inviting one billion women and those who love them to walk out, dance, rise up and demand an end to this violence," reads the Vday website.

V-Day raises funds and awareness through benefit production's of Ensler's play, and has raised more than $100 million so far, funding more than 13,000 anti-violence programs and safe houses, and the documentary "Until the Violence Stops."

On Feb. 14 in Los Angeles, the Eclectic Company Theatre on Laurel Canyon Boulevard will hold "A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and a Prayer," staged readings to stop violence against women and girls. The event will feature writings by Edward Albee, Maya Angelou, Michael Cunningham, Dave Eggers, Edwidge Danticat, Carol Gilligan, Susan Miller, Sharon Olds, Patricia Bosworth, Jane Fonda and more. The writings are edited by Eve Ensler and Mollie Doyle, and performed by actors of The Eclectic Company Theatre.

"These writings are inspired, funny, angry, heartfelt, tragic and beautiful," reads their press release. "But above all, together they create a true and profound portrait of how violence against women affects every one of us."

And on Feb. 16, Eclectic Company Theatre stages "Like a Butterfly, I Will Rise," a night of storytelling, music and poetry honoring the feminine spirit. The event is for V-Day Valley Village, part of the global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls, and is one of thousands of such events being enacted around the globe that weekend.

Proceeds from both events will be donated to support the charitable activities of Haven Hills, Inc., a 501c3 agency which aids women and children who have experienced domestic violence. For more info, visit www.eclecticcompanytheatre.org.

Chicago's Gorilla Tango Bucktown Theater will also stage this two-night benefit reading of "A Memory," on Feb. 22 and Feb. 28.
"Diverse voices rise up in a collective roar to break open, expose, and examine the insidiousness of violence at all levels: brutality, neglect, a punch, or even a put-down," writes Bucktown.

V-Day Chicago West Town's evenings of performance will feature selections by Edward Albee, Maya Angelou, Michael Cunningham, Dave Eggers, Sharon Olds and Jane Fonda. Many local performers and women's rights advocates will also perform.

These benefit performances are presented as part of V-Day's One Billion Rising Campaign for Justice, a global call for women survivors of violence to gather and release their stories through art, dance, marches, ritual, song, spoken word, sit-ins and testimonies.

The Center for Advancing Domestic Peace will receive 90 percent of proceeds, with 10 percent to go back to the V-Day initiative started by Ensler.

Staged readings of "The Vagina Monologues" and "A Memory" are planned throughout the U.S., at community centers, colleges, churches, bookstores and youth centers.

"Here, in the new world owned by no one and directed by everyone, where creativity flows and we no longer doubt the power of dance to release the trauma that has closed the gateways of our bodies and hearts. May we free and call up the fire and love," write Ensler and Monique Wilson in their annual statement.