Reading a monologue can save lives.
And on this particular stage, actresses aren’t required to have experience — just a heart to end violence against women and girls.
From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 9 and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 11, self-identified women in Gainesville can audition at Rush & Glassman, 11 SE Second Ave., for “The Vagina Monologues.” It’s an annual benefit production through V-Day, which is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls. Benefits will go to Peaceful Paths, a domestic abuse network that serves survivors of domestic violence in Alachua, Bradford and Union counties.
“It’s a phenomenal healing event,” said 27-year-old Keri Johnson, a third-year religion and nature graduate student and director of the local Gainesville production.
As a survivor, she said she is excited to put together the production, and she is hoping for as many actresses as possible.
“I want to have everyone involved who wants to be involved,” Johnson said. Even men can help out, although only self-identified women will be cast, she said.
Scheduled for mid-February, the episodic play, created and written by Eve Ensler, 59, will allow actresses to reenact true stories about women affected by violence. The scripts, which vary in size and style, are series of interviews collected by Ensler.
It doesn’t matter whether one’s familiar with “The Vagina Monologues,” because the scripts will be available an hour before auditions — and they don’t have to be memorized.
Participants will audition in 10-minute time slots on a first-come, first-serve basis and will be cast in January.
“I’m really excited about it,” Johnson said. “I really don’t know what my expectations are.”
As a whole, the production is expected to gain one billion supporters. In conjunction with its upcoming 15th anniversary, it launched its One Billion Rising campaign, a global strike scheduled for Feb. 14 to demand an end to the estimated one billion women who are, have been and will be abused. Visit onebillionrising.org for more information.
Those interested in auditioning can stay up-to-date on TVM’s Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/groups/gainesvilleTVM.
