Vagina Monologues at Westport Country Playhouse

In the wake of sold out performances and rave reviews from audiences , V-Day Westport 2011 is thrilled to present its second benefit performance of Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues on April 3.

Theatergoers applauded the talent displayed in last year’s production and experienced a gamut of emotions ranging from sadness, delight, happiness, despair, awe, joy and fierce pride in being a woman as they witnessed, through Ensler’s powerful writing, the strength of women who collectively change the world one smile or tear at a time – all this in an hour and a half on a Sunday afternoon.

 Once more, women from all walks of life - actors, activists, and first time performers – will come together to raise funds and awareness to end violence against women and girls locally and globally. The buzz from last spring’s production promises that tickets will again sell out.

 The Vagina Monologues will be directed by Jill Jaysen of the award winning Center Stage Theatre Company and performed at the Westport Country Playhouse on Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Reserved seating tickets are $25, $35 and $50 and may be purchased through Westport Country Playhouse by calling their box office at 203.227.4177 or on their website at www.westportplayhouse.org.

"Once again it has been both a privilege and an honor to be a catalyst for the change we all want to see, to authentically connect with the lives of these women and in so doing, with ourselves. This is a true collaboration of the heart; one which has resulted in our awareness, strengthening and unification, both on and off the stage," said Jill Jaysen, Director of V-Day Westport 2011's production of The Vagina Monologues.

Last year’s event raised $30,000 for the Domestic Violence Crisis Center, which will again be the local beneficiary, receiving 90% of the profits. The DVCC provides counseling, court and legal advocacy, temporary shelter and housing advocacy, medical advocacy, children’s services, multilingual services, PeaceWorks prevention education and a 24-hour Hotline, and is the only domestic violence agency serving the communities of Stamford, Norwalk, Westport, New Canaan, Darien, Wilton and Weston. The remaining 10% raised will go to V-Day’s City of Joy, Earthquake Victims in Haiti.

“Westport has always provided a tremendous amount of support to the DVCC through individuals committed to working toward the elimination of domestic violence,” said DVCC Executive Director Rachelle Kucera Mehra. “But this community effort by the The Center Stage Theatre Company, the actors and members of the theater community, activists and concerned citizens is just overwhelming. The funds raised last year through these performances allowed us to provide services and assistance to our clients that enhanced their quality of life as they moved through the process of freeing themselves from intimate partner violence.”

Hailed by The New York Times as "funny" and "poignant" and by the Daily News as "intelligent" and "courageous," The Vagina Monologues, which was first performed in 1998 off-Broadway by Ms. Ensler, dives into the mystery, humor, pain, power, wisdom, outrage and excitement buried in women's experiences.  "Spellbinding, funny, and almost unbearably moving . . . it is both a work of art and an incisive piece of cultural history, a poem and a polemic, a performance and balm and a benediction," Variety.

In eleven years, the V-Day movement has raised over $80 million and reached over 300 million people. The V-Day movement is growing at a rapid pace throughout the world, in 130 countries from Europe to Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, and all of North America.  Last year, over 5,400 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteers in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. 

To become a sponsor, contact us at vdaywestport2011@gmail.com.  To learn more about V-Day and its campaigns visit www.vday.org.