V-Day events take place at Firelands

HURON -- March 18-20 BGSU Firelands will host a special three-day series of V-Day events to raise funds and awareness toward ending violence against women. At 11 a.m. on March 18 in the Cedar Point Center Auditorium, the college will present a benefit screening of the documentary, "Until the Violence Stops." Donations are welcome. The screening is free and open to the public.

At 7:30 p.m. on March 19 in McBride Auditorium, BGSU faculty and students will present a special readers' theatre benefit performance of Eve Ensler's award-winning play "The Vagina Monologues." Admission to the play is $5 per person and net proceeds will benefit Safe Harbour Domestic Violence Shelter. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for general admission seating.

At 9:30 a.m. on March 20 in the Cedar Point Center Auditorium, a spotlight teach-in will be held to discuss "Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo." At 11 a.m. a benefit screening of the documentary "Until the Violence Stops" will follow the teach-in. Donations are welcome. Both the teach-in and the screening are free and open to the public.

The V-Day events contain mature subject matter that may not be appropriate for young children. Parental discretion is advised.

V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sexual slavery.

"The Vagina Monologues," which was first performed off-Broadway by Ensler, dives into the mystery, humor, pain, power, wisdom, outrage and excitement buried in women's experiences. Ensler has performed the play to great acclaim throughout the world -- from Zagreb to Santa Barbara, from London to Seattle, from Jerusalem to Oklahoma City. Villard Books/Random House first published The Vagina Monologues, which includes a foreword by Gloria Steinem, in February 1998. A special edition was released in hard cover and paperback in February 2008 in honor of V-Day's ten year anniversary.

Through V-Day's College and Community campaigns, local volunteers and college students produce annual benefit performances of "The Vagina Monologues A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer, "Any One Of Us: Words From Prison" and screenings of V-Day's documentary "Until The Violence Stops and the PBS documentary "What I Want My Words To Do To You" to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups within their own communities. In 2009, over 4200 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls.