The Dickinson Community Players will be returning for their annual spring semester performance of “The Vagina Monologues” from Friday to Sunday in the Dickinson Dining Hall.
The performance is taken directly from Eve Ensler’s award-winning play, “The Vagina Monologues,” which is performed internationally to create awareness to fight violence against women and girls, and to raise funds to aid women worldwide who are in a crisis.
The event is scheduled to have performances on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 to 11 p.m. Tickets will be sold for $3 on the nights of the performances.
The monetary profit from the Binghamton University performances and the bake sale that will be taking place during the show will be donated to Madre, a worldwide charity for women. The profit will be going through Madre to donate money to women in Haiti.
“We want people to come and enjoy, but it is also going towards a good cause,” said Stephanie D’Aquila, a co-director for the show.
According to Ipsita Ghose, another co-director, the purpose of the performance is to create awareness and to celebrate the female body.
The common theme that runs through the monologues is implicit in the celebration of women. The monologues are based on real interviews and expose real stories about the problems women go through.
Ghose, senior psychology and biology double major, emphasized that the show is not about sex, but rather about the entity of women.
“We want our men to come and watch, but many women will also end up learning so much about themselves,” said Catherine Nunez, senior accounting major and third co-director of the show.
Last year, there was only one director for the show, but this year there are three, all of who met with and trained the actresses on a one-on-one basis.
According to Ghose, the show seeks to have “real women” acting in the performance, not necessarily women who are trained in performing arts. She also said that everyone who auditioned for “The Vagina Monologues” was given a role to play.
“The auditions and shows are not limited to the Dickinson Community, as the name of the group suggests,” said D’Aquila, junior double majoring in psychology and Spanish. “It is open to anyone on the campus and in the Binghamton community.”
The cast is made up of 20 students, including some returning performers and many new members.
According to Nunez, the success of the group’s performance of “The Vagina Monologues” last year has made this year’s event highly anticipated.
“Last year, it was very successful,” she said. “We had audience members that showed up during all three nights.”