Annual 'Monologues' performance moves to Southeast campus

For the first time in its four-year history in Cape Girardeau, the annual V-Day production of Eve Ensler's award-winning "The Vagina Monologues" will be performed this year on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.

The production is performed royalty-free to benefit causes to stop violence against women as part of the worldwide V-Day campaign started by Ensler. It will be performed Thursday night at Academic Hall Auditorium. In previous years the "Monologues" were performed at the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

Producer and director Brooke Hildebrand Clubbs, a communication faculty member at Southeast, tried to get access to school facilities from the beginning but was denied the first year.

Clubbs said benefactors for the River Campus didn't want the university's theater department to be involved in such a controversial work.

"The Vagina Monologues" tells the story of several women and the struggles they've endured because of their gender. Some find the "Monologues" offensive due to its frank discussion of sexuality.

But Dr. Martin Jones, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said the play was denied the university venue because it was a community production that would have used theater department resources. He said the department wanted to avoid possible confusion, with community members thinking the play was put on by the theater department.

"It wasn't scheduled as part of our regular theater and dance program, and we ... didn't want people to get confused with university- and community-based productions," Jones said.

But this year the production gained the sponsorship of the student organization COMMrades and funding from the university's Dollars for Innovative Campus Events -- a fund designed to bring in special programming.

COMMrades wanted to support the production as part of its service projects, which includes help to abused women, said sponsor Dr. Glenn Williams.

"It really fits our mission," Williams said.

Whatever the reason, Clubbs said she's glad to see the production being performed on campus.

"One of the reasons I wanted to get back on campus is I felt that we were missing a very vital audience, and that's university students," said Clubbs. "College is a time of life when you're open to new experiences and forming opinions that are going to last the rest of your life."

This year the production hopes to raise $500 for the SEMO Network Against Sexual Violence. Clubbs said the play usually brings the same crowd of people who sympathize with the cause, but maybe having a real stage and being on campus will help draw in a bigger crowd.

In addition to the more spacious accommodations, fans of the "Monologues" will enjoy another new feature this year.

A new monologue will also be performed, telling the story of the "comfort women" -- Asian women raped by Japanese soldiers in World War II.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

Want to go?

What: Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues"

* When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday

* Where: Academic Hall Auditorium

* Info: 986-7380