UAF's Women's Art Group performed its annual rendition of "The Vagina Monologues" this weekend, the fourth time the show has come to Fairbanks. The money from the show will go to programs designed to help protect women and children from domestic violence.

"Most of the women weren't actresses, but came together for the same purpose of supporting nonviolent living," said "Monologues" director, WAG member, and UAF student Leah Hill.

According to the State of Alaska's Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, an Alaskan woman is raped every 18 hours and 17 minutes, and Alaska's forcible rape rate is 2.5 times higher than the national average.

For more than seven years, the nonprofit organization V-day has raised over a million dollars to stop violence against women. Today "The Vagina Monologues" is performed in 76 countries. The "V" in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine, and, of course, Vagina.

Performing groups receive the rights to the play, written by Eve Ensler, if the proceeds are used to benefit groups dedicated to fighting violence against women.

The play is based on interviews with women of different ages, ethnicities, and orientation talking candidly about their private parts.

"If women are not feeling empowered, if there's a 'shhh!' don't talk about it attitude, the violence won't stop," said director Cheryl Humme. "We're here to say 'vagina' proudly."

UAF's Women's Art Group sponsored the play, which was performed Friday at the Davis Concert Hall, and Saturday at the Blue Loon.

"Saturday at the Loon was packed, a full house," said Humme. "It was a more intimate setting at the Loon, there was no special lights. It wasn't as fancy a show as at Davis, but at the same time you're right there with the audience"

The Monologues revolved around topics not normally discussed in most corners of the Fairbanks community: if your vagina could talk what would it say ('slow down', according to the cast), what your vagina would wear, what your vagina smells like, and what you call your vagina.

One of the pieces, "The Flood", centers on an elderly Jewish woman that didn't have an orgasm until she was 72 years old, and another that "wanted to throw up and die" when she even thought about looking at her vagina.

Another segment called "The Woman that Loved to Make Vaginas Happy", has a lesbian dominatrix doing a "When Harry met Sally" –esque depiction of the sexual moans she induces from her clients.

"There were some jokes that don't hit home as well if you don't have a vagina," said student Nicole Mihm.

"I enjoyed watching the reaction of a group of older women in front of me, what they giggled at and what they didn't," Said student Kyle Cambell, 19, who saw the Davis show Friday night.

Most of the show was humor-oriented, but some pieces, such as "My Vagina Was My Village", an account of a woman that was raped by soldiers during the conflict in Yugoslavia, and a new aspect of the play called "They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy… Or So They Tried", performed by Anne-Margret Lee, discuss the predicament of violence against women, children, and "transwomen" worldwide.

"I've never laughed or cried so much in her life at a performance than she had at this one," said one woman after the Friday performance at the Davis Concert Hall.

"I wish I had a vagina!" said one local male Fairbanksan.

"As a director, the best thing to see is the cast each year, because they're all different women," said Humme. "It's just so powerful, to be able to stand up in front of your whole town, in front of everyone, some people you know and some people you don't, and say I'm proud of who I am, I'm proud of being a woman, I'm empowered by this, and helping others feel empowered too is just an incredible feeling."

This is the fourth year "The Monologues" have been performed in Fairbanks. "In three years we've raised $15,000 dollars or so," said Humme.

Humme estimates this year's donations at roughly $5,000 dollars. The money made from this year's performances will go to a variety of antiviolence programs, but WAG hasn't made a final decision on where the money will go.

"We still haven't decided, we have a number of places in mind, the Interior Alaska Center for Non-violent Living gets money each year, and we'll probably give to the Resource Center for Parents and Children, " said Humme.

Other organizations given proceeds from the Monologues include Steve's place and Calypso Farms, which has a program that shows women how to grow their own food. "Food issues can be a big issue in domestic violence," said Humme, who used to teach classes about domestic abuse.

Another program WAG has given to in the past is one that flies domestic violence victims in the North Slope to regional shelters.

"Each village on the North Slope can't afford their own shelter, so the Barrow Shelter slides women in from other villages, and that's a program we feel very strongly about."

The Women's Art Group was created by members of the first "Vagina Monologues" performance four years ago, and they haven't looked back since.

According to their program, WAG is "comprised of individuals intent on combining art and social activism to initiate change in issues as they affect women."

All seven of the show's directors this year have been involved in previous shows. For four years, WAG has hosted an art show called "The Art of Survival", that showcases "the beauty and strength of sexual assault and abuse survivors", in conjunction with April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month. They also have hosted "Boob Art", an art show dedicated to raising awareness about breast cancer.

Photo by John Wagner/ Sun Star

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