Tech Players' final production of The Vagina Monologues" is Feb. 13, 14 and 15

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Jan. 27, 2002) – The Tech Players’ third and final production of Eve Ensler’s Obie award-winning play, "The Vagina Monologues," is set for 10 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, and 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 14 and 15.

Tennessee Tech University is among more than 650 institutions presenting the play as part of the V-Day 2003 College Campaign, a global movement anchored around the Feb. 14 Valentine’s holiday and aimed at raising proceeds for organizations helping to stop violence against women and girls. Monica Fields directs the show.

"I’m proud of our three-year involvement with the V-Day College Campaign," said Mark Creter, artistic director of the university’s Backdoor Playhouse. "The production has helped raise awareness of women’s issues both on campus and in the surrounding community, as well as raise thousands of dollars for the Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence."

"I consider my involvement with the V-Day College Campaign to be one of my greatest achievements during my 10 years at TTU — but theatre involves change, and it is time for the Playhouse to move on," he continued.

TTU’s original presentation in 2001 was award winning. It netted Creter an Intellectual Freedom Award from the Tennessee Council of Teachers of English.

He warns, however, that some language and situations in the play may not be suitable for everyone, and those under the age of 17 will not be admitted unless accompanied by an adult.

Both a celebration of women’s sexuality and a condemnation of violence against it, "The Vagina Monologues" is based on a series of interviews with women around the world — from a prisoner in a Bosnian "rape camp" to a sexually assaulted young girl — about their own feelings and experiences.

According to statistics from the 2000 United Nations Study on the Status of Women, a woman in America is battered — usually by her intimate partner — every 15 seconds, but fewer than one-third of those incidents are ever reported.

Since the worldwide launch of the event five years ago, however, V-Day activities have helped raise more than $4 million for grassroots, national and international organizations and programs that work to stop such violence.

Tickets for the Backdoor Playhouse production of "The Vagina Monologues" are $10 for general admission and $6 for students and senior citizens. For more information, call the Backdoor Playhouse box office at 372-6595.

--Tracey LeFevre

This information posted 28 JANUARY 03