Local V-Day show hopes to raise awareness of Green Bear program

As the local V-Day production of "The Vagina Monologues" prepares for its fifth annual performance, the event's producer and director says this year is the most important yet.

With the recent news of the Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence's loss of funding for its Green Bear children's education program, "Monologues" producer and director Brooke Hildebrand Clubbs said she hopes the production can help raise awareness about the program's importance.

"It seems like they're losing a very fundamental part of the organization if they can no longer go out to the schools," said Clubbs.

Every year Clubbs and other volunteers present their production of the award-winning "Vagina Monologues" royalty-free as part of the international V-Day campaign. V-Day is a movement started by the play's author, Eve Ensler, to raise awareness about violence against women. The money raised from admission fees at the local performance benefits the NASV. Organizers also hope to collect items to give to the local Safe House for Women.

On Thursday seven female performers will take to the Academic Auditorium stage for the performance.

Clubbs said she wants to earmark money raised this year for the Green Bear program, though that money won't come close to the amount needed to fund the program. Last year the Green Bear Club, which travels to schools to teach children how to prevent sexual abuse, was funded by a $38,000 state grant.

NASV executive director Tammy Gwaltney said she hopes the performance on campus may help spur others to help out, especially college students, one of NASV's target audiences.

Gwaltney said the Green Bear program also visits college campuses, though the presentation is different than that for younger students. On college campuses the focus is on women protecting themselves from date rape and other dangers.

Clubbs said this fifth year of the production is something of a milestone, especially since the V-Day performance encountered some community resistance at its outset. This year a new monologue will be performed, an edgy piece that addresses the aftermath of war and its propensity to perpetuate violence against women. However, the performance is not politically charged and not anti-American, she said.

msanders@semissourian.com

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