Eve Ensler Play to be Performed

Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues," presented for the past several years by members of the Theatre Department and Women's Studies at Fairmont State University, will give way to another of her productions, "A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer." Performances will be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 5-6 in Room 314 of Wallman Hall (Studio Theatre). Donations will be accepted at the door.

The presentation is edited from works by Abiola Abrams, Edward Albee, Tariq Ali, Maya Angelou, Periel Aschenbrand, Patricia Bosworth, Nicole Burdette, Kate Clinton, Kimberle Crenshaw, Michael Cunningham, Edwidge Danticat, Ariel Dorfman, Mollie Doyle, Slavenka Drakulic, Michael Eric Dyson, Dave Eggers, Kathy Engel, Eve Ensler, Jane Fonda, Carol Gilligan, Jyllian Gunther, Suheir Hammad, Christine House, Marie Howe, Carol Mich'le Kaplan, Mois's Kaufman, Michael Klein, Nicholas Kristof, James Lecesne, Elizabeth Lesser, Mark Matousek, Deena Metzger, Susan Miller, Winter Miller, Susan Minot, Robin Morgan, Kathy Najimy, Lynn Nottage, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Sharon Olds, Hanan al-Shaykh, Anna Deavere Smith, Diana Son, Monica Szlekovics, Robert Thurman, Betty Gale Tyson, Alice Walker, Jody Williams, Erin Cressida Wilson and Howard Zinn.

This groundbreaking collection, performed by Lindsay Bird, Josh Boyce, Crystal Conner, Marc Cornes, Kimberly Higginbotham, Monica Hines, Kendra Holden, Samantha Huffman, Karen Lewis, Anthony Marchese, Sean Marko, Jasmin Patrick, Jennifer and Michelle Stole, was edited by author and playwright Eve Ensler.

Featured are pieces from "Until the Violence Stops," the international tour that brings the issue of violence against women and girls to the forefront of our consciousness. These diverse voices rise up in a collective roar to break open, expose and examine the insidiousness of brutality, neglect, a punch or a put-down. Here is Edward Albee on S&M; Maya Angelou on women's work; Michael Cunningham on self-mutilation; Dave Eggers on a Sudanese abduction; Carol Gilligan on a daughter witnessing her mother being hit; Susan Miller on raising a son as a single mother; and Sharon Olds on a bra.

The Chicago Tribune says of this work: "In the current era, it takes some brain racking to think of anyone else doing anything quite like Ensler. She's a countercultural consciousness-raiser, an empowering figure, a truth-teller."