up with the part of “Eve.” For those of you who were at the [Empowerment Workshop] in New York, I was the one who was too shy to perform in front of everyone and was the curtain for the Spring Preview of Vagina Secret. I had never been on stage before but I knew that I had to do this. I spent the last two weeks memorizing the entire piece. Then, last Wednesday, a young woman came to the women’s center; she had just been raped by two male students. It was 30 minutes before rehearsal but Sandrea and I knew that we had to help her.
The story hit the news on Friday and the way in which it was treated by the press infuriated everyone who knew her. Saturday, after rehearsing from 9 to 5, we spent 2 1/2 hours with her and her friends helping them process what had happened. They were all very angry and scared, but the love and support that they showed for one another was amazing! And many women decided to share their own experiences so the young woman would know that she was not alone. It was an incredible experience.
The young woman came to our performance last night—she is so brave!
We sold the show out on Friday and turned lots of people away last night; in retrospect we felt that we should have done more than one performance, but who knew? It was a fabulous show!
The audience
was into it from the introduction. They were so supportive and loving—and they laughed when they were supposed to! Having never done ANY theatre or performance of any kind, I was terrified.
Right before
the show I sent out a prayer to Eve to be with me and to help me and she did! People told me afterward that they thought I WAS Eve, until I said 21 years ago I adopted a son (and yes, it was very clear in the program that I was playing “Eve”). I was so flattered! We also had six sign language interpreters that were wonderful! They donated their time! Each woman had an interpreter on stage right beside her—it was incredible! People just came out of the woodwork to help us with this project. Oh yeah, we got a standing ovation and three curtain calls! Thank you so much for all the love and support each of you has shown throughout this project. Good luck to everyone putting up shows this week. Oh, we’ve made at least $2,200 for the Women’s Resource Center and the Albuquerque Rape Crisis Center.
VAGINA!
—Summer, University of New Mexico
[To her fellow College Initiative participants]
Congrats to all! It seems we all had a highly successful V-Day! Arizona State University had an overwhelming last-minute response and had to sell standing-room-only tickets at the 4
and 6:30 shows.
We did a total of 3 shows on Sunday—a 1:30 free matinee for shelter residents/staff and our sponsors, a 4 P.M. show which raised $1,108, and a 6:30 show which raised $1,209, plus $140
standing-room-only
and $75 donation box! The music gala raised $300 and the art show raised I think $500.
Our grand total
is $3,332!!!!!!! This will be divided in thirds and distributed to AZ Coalition Against Domestic Violence, AZ Sexual Assault Network, and Decolores—the only bilingual domestic violence shelter in AZ! We had a standing “O” at the 4 P.M. show! It was exhilarating! We did the visual statistic at the beginning of the last opening announcement before the show. 1/3 of the audience stood (every 3rd person given a sticker as they came in the door) to represent that 1 out of every 3 women is raped by the age of 18. It was so in their face and hit them hard! A great way to start the show. People cried!
We also had the Silent Witnesses in the lobby and Project Clothesline. We had T-shirt-making sessions for the Project Clothesline after each show. One woman in her 40’s ran to the T-shirt room crying, made a T-shirt that exhibited the fact that she was a survivor of childhood abuse by a family member, passionately sobbing and painting this T-shirt in rage. It took her 10 minutes.
When she left, she
said, “Thanks!” This is what makes the show worth
The story hit the news on Friday and the way in which it was treated by the press infuriated everyone who knew her. Saturday, after rehearsing from 9 to 5, we spent 2 1/2 hours with her and her friends helping them process what had happened. They were all very angry and scared, but the love and support that they showed for one another was amazing! And many women decided to share their own experiences so the young woman would know that she was not alone. It was an incredible experience.
The young woman came to our performance last night—she is so brave!
We sold the show out on Friday and turned lots of people away last night; in retrospect we felt that we should have done more than one performance, but who knew? It was a fabulous show!
The audience
was into it from the introduction. They were so supportive and loving—and they laughed when they were supposed to! Having never done ANY theatre or performance of any kind, I was terrified.
Right before
the show I sent out a prayer to Eve to be with me and to help me and she did! People told me afterward that they thought I WAS Eve, until I said 21 years ago I adopted a son (and yes, it was very clear in the program that I was playing “Eve”). I was so flattered! We also had six sign language interpreters that were wonderful! They donated their time! Each woman had an interpreter on stage right beside her—it was incredible! People just came out of the woodwork to help us with this project. Oh yeah, we got a standing ovation and three curtain calls! Thank you so much for all the love and support each of you has shown throughout this project. Good luck to everyone putting up shows this week. Oh, we’ve made at least $2,200 for the Women’s Resource Center and the Albuquerque Rape Crisis Center.
VAGINA!
—Summer, University of New Mexico
[To her fellow College Initiative participants]
Congrats to all! It seems we all had a highly successful V-Day! Arizona State University had an overwhelming last-minute response and had to sell standing-room-only tickets at the 4
and 6:30 shows.
We did a total of 3 shows on Sunday—a 1:30 free matinee for shelter residents/staff and our sponsors, a 4 P.M. show which raised $1,108, and a 6:30 show which raised $1,209, plus $140
standing-room-only
and $75 donation box! The music gala raised $300 and the art show raised I think $500.
Our grand total
is $3,332!!!!!!! This will be divided in thirds and distributed to AZ Coalition Against Domestic Violence, AZ Sexual Assault Network, and Decolores—the only bilingual domestic violence shelter in AZ! We had a standing “O” at the 4 P.M. show! It was exhilarating! We did the visual statistic at the beginning of the last opening announcement before the show. 1/3 of the audience stood (every 3rd person given a sticker as they came in the door) to represent that 1 out of every 3 women is raped by the age of 18. It was so in their face and hit them hard! A great way to start the show. People cried!
We also had the Silent Witnesses in the lobby and Project Clothesline. We had T-shirt-making sessions for the Project Clothesline after each show. One woman in her 40’s ran to the T-shirt room crying, made a T-shirt that exhibited the fact that she was a survivor of childhood abuse by a family member, passionately sobbing and painting this T-shirt in rage. It took her 10 minutes.
When she left, she
said, “Thanks!” This is what makes the show worth
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