Liz Bosarge

Senior Reporter

The MUW Student Life Center and National Organization for Women present “The Vagina Monologues” on April 5-7 in the Cochran ballroom at 7 p.m.

Performers will read and act out over a dozen stories of women from Eve Ensler’s award-winning play about the struggles of women around the world. The play is based on true stories about real women and the issues they face. The goal is to tackle serious issues and actual events in a way that is comedic and makes them easier to discuss.

“All these monologues are based on actual women. They are real stories told by real women, about real women, about their vaginas,” said Gabby Lestrade, director of the performance and vice president of The W’s chapter of NOW.

Lestrade, a creative writing major at The W, said that the stories are about women of different ages, nationalities, ethnicities and backgrounds. They include a range of good and bad things, from sex and birth to rape and genital mutilation. Some stories detail how the body works and aim to raise awareness of how women are treated unfairly or with disrespect.

“The talks will be about the good things, like sex and vaginas, and about the things that could go wrong, that people do, and they bring awareness to things that shouldn’t be happening, and the unfair way that women get treated in society,” said Savannah Dupont, who will perform “My Angry Vagina.”

Dupont said this event gives the audience an idea of what is going on in the world and issues that women face. She said that even though it may be uncomfortable to talk about some of these issues, it will be entertaining and have a comedic flow.

The popular vagina cupcakes will be sold at the event, along with a raffle of donated items related to women’s health and well being. Proceeds from the event will benefit Safe Haven, a local domestic violence shelter.

This event is open to the public.