Page 4 Over the Edge, March 24 - April 7 2010 UNBC hosts the Vagi Shelby Petersen News Editor UNBC hosted the Vagina Mono- logues on March 12-13. The play was produced and preformed by UNBC stu- dents and hosted in the Canfor Theatre. The play was staged in celebration of International Woman’s Week. The Vagina Monologues is a play written and originally preformed by Eve Ensler. The play consists of several dif- ferent monologues all dealing with the vagina be it through sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, birth, or mas- turbation. While Ensler originally pre- formed all of the monologues herself, more recent productions of the play have a different actor for each mono- logue. The underlying theme of the play is the vagina as a source of female em- powerment and the ultimate embodi- ment of individuality. In 2004, several new monologues were added to the play chronicling transgendered women’s ex- periences. UNBC’s version of the play was pro- duced by UNBC student Aria Cheng who is president of Pride UNBC and co-or- ganized by NUGSS Women’s rep Kara Steel. The play was performed by sev- eral UNBC students including: Heather Anchikoski, Christina Bj@rn-Hansen, Carly Faktor, Amanda Firth, Ley Fraser, Helen Hogeterp, Zarrah Holvick, Kelly Hrywkiw, Allannah Kenoras-Schwandt, Alexandra Lukac, Adrienne Legault, Jes- siquita Madrid, Zoe Meletis, Kate Rus- sell, Elizabeth Sharp, Katarina Strandberg, Sandra Tanemura. All stu- dents gained their roles through an au- dition process. Weekly rehearsals took place throughout the month of February in preparation for their Mach show times. The Vagina Monologues is usually preformed between February 1 and April 30 to coincide with V-Day. V-Day is the global movement to end the violence against women and girls and was in- spired by Ensler’s play. Performances of the Vagina Monologues typically donate their proceeds to women’s shelters and facilities. UNBC’s production of the Vagina Monologues donated all of its proceeds to the UNBC Women’s Centre, the Elizabeth Fry Society, Pride UNBC, and the International V-Day organiza- tion. The performance ran for two days with three separate showings all of which sold out. Members from both the greater Prince George community and UNBC were in attendance. For more in- formation on the show you can visit Wwww.vmpg.ca. na Monologues ~ —_ - 7 Cast and crew prepare for a perform- ance. Vagina Monologues Review Stephanie McCullough Managing editor The Canfor is FULL. Since | have graduated in May | don’t attend classes ever, even though | wish | sat in on Economics for the chance to actually comprehend it. From what | remem- ber, in any class in mid-March, this event has the Canfor more filled than a midterm. People are seated closely together, ma- jority of them being women, but isn't that like regular University anyway? | ask myself while being surrounded by dozens of people | have never met and wil likely never see again, What is coming? Is it really worth the consequence of sitting too close? What if they spit with anger in their performance? Need- less to say, | am one frightened individual with a pen and paper. Oh my, the actors are filing down through the side stairs of the hall. Dressed all in black | am even more apprehensive of how this whole event will begin and mostly, continue! Should | be labeling these women as a cult of feminists? No, no labels are present here. Each performance amazes more than the last. The actors (or actresses I’m not too sure) are so multi-layered when the intermission comes | almost need a break to calm my awe. | couldn’t make a list of my favourite performance because | don’t know how to list all the names in first place. Why is this not more popular? Why is this the first time I’ve had the opportunity to see this spectacle? How come we have such a diversified acting programme here within UNBC and this is the first event I’ve ever heard of? Prince George is a monster in a black dress and red accenting. We, in the audience, are encouraged to look (and | mean Really look) at our Vaginas.(I begin to blush around here and don’t stop until the end) We should use more words to discuss them. We should not be afraid to sport them like the powerful body part that they are. We are taught that the Vagina is not a cellar that you never discuss, nor travel to, nor play in. Something staggering came about tonight: the Vagina is more than an entry point. It is for more than babies and sexual pleasure. It is a source of power, a source of womanhood in the best way possible. A source of pride. | have realized something so staggering for me that anybody that knows anything about me will be shocked to hear this from my mouth. | am now going to encourage women to masterbate. MAsterbation proves to a woman that she is an indpeendant soul. She can make herself happy quickly and easily all without relying on anyone else. To think that masturbation is the simplest tool to bring these scads of spineless females into an equal world is awe-inspiring. This idea comes to me after many chats with guys about mastur- bation. They love to do it and they don’t hide it. Maybe if we masterbated as much as guys do, and brought it up as a source of internal power we’d feel more independent. Ladies, touch yourselves. Love yourself. Love your vagina. It does so much for you and you are not bringing its powers into your daily life. Your vagina is a reflection of you, love it and you will love yourself.