by Alejandro Peña
On Feburary 7 and 8 Kingsborough’s MAC Playhouse will play host to Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” in correlation with the tenth anniversary of the V-Day movement, a global effort to end violence against women and girls. Joining the ranks of women like Whoopi Goldberg, Jane Fonda, and Brooke Shields will be Kingsborough students Alyssa Julien, Cindy Kwok, Betty Pierre-Louis, Aline Bernstein and Valeria Hakam Sacay as Eve Ensler. Directed by professor Ross DeGraw of the Department of Communications and Performing Arts, the production is a colloboration between the department, the Performing Arts Society and the Center for Women and Non-Traditional Students.
A suggested donation is asked of all who care to attend the Thursday and Friday evening student production. Beginning on Valentine’s Day in 1998, the “Vagina Monologues” have been the main focus of the V-Day movement to end violence against women, defined on the V-Day website as rape (including its use as a war crime), female genital mutilation, honor killings, incest and sexual slavery, among others. Beginning February 1 and lasting until March 8, International Women’s Day, female performers across the world will be performing the “Vagina Monologues” in solidarity with the movement. Joining these women will be five of Kingsborough’s own. While sitting in on a rehearsal all of three weeks before opening night, the five women casually talked amongst themselves before jumping right into a dry run of the “Monologues.” Peering down from the stage with a gaze that peered into souls, Valerie’s interpretation of Ensler gave her opening line and delved right into the matter of the “Vagina Monologues.”
Giving up any more than that would just be stealing from those planning to attend. The “Monologues” kick off a busy ‘08 season for Kingsborough, with “Little Shop of Horrors” coming up in May along with the “Ten Minute Play Festival”. Along with the number of student productions set to take center stage this year, Kingsborough’s Best Selling Author Series brings author A.M. Homes to the MAC for a discussion of her work, including her latest, “The Mistresses’ Daughter,” followed by a Q&A session on February 5 at 7 P.M. Though free, reservations must be made in advance at 718-368-5051. Or visit Kingsborough’s Box Office.
While Kingsborough might be a long way from the Broadway glitz and
glamour, supporting Kingsborough’s performing arts students for free!
|
