Players to present collection of monologues at Garvey for V-Day

Josh Rouse

V-Day is continuing its efforts to end violence against women this weekend with the play “A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer.”

The play is one of three productions taking place at Washburn to spread the message of peace. The show begins at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Andrew J. and Georgia Neese Gray Theater in the Garvey Fine Arts Center. Admission is $5 and the event is open to the public, with proceeds going to the Battered Women’s Task Force in Topeka and the Women of Katrina.

V-Day actually began on the first of the year and will continue at Washburn until March 31. Now in its 10th year of existence, a two-day celebration will take place April 11 and 12 in New Orleans to commemorate the decade of ending violence, and celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Salma Hayek and Jessica Alba will be on hand.

Sophomore Brenda Blackman, assistant director of the play, said the play is different from “The Vagina Monologues” because the cast includes both men and women and because it is written by many famous writers.

“It reaches out to a much larger audience because it has men in it and talks about all kinds of violence,” said Blackman. “It’s about violence in general, not just women’s violence.”

The play, a collection of monologues edited by Eve Ensler, does contain some adult language and subject matter as it portrays the violence that is carried out on a day-to-day basis.

Blackman said the changes that have been made this year make it even better, and that the audience will come away from it with a different point of view.

“It’s brand new this year,” said Blackman. “It will be good for anyone to see because it makes you think.”