Leann in the Vagina Monologues.

Heather spent the vast majority of this week preparing for and performing in Grenada's very first presentation of the Vagina Monologues.  The Vagina Monologues is a play written by Eve Ensler which consists of many different monologues woven together with various group pieces.  Each portion of the play focuses on a different aspect of living this experience as a woman: from menstruation to mutilation, from hilarity to horror, and from curiosity to awe.  What started out as a play has become a movement: V-Day.  Participants of V-Day stage benefit performances of the Monologues every year between February 1 and March 8.  The proceeds go to programs that work to end violence against women and girls, including crisis centers and women's shelters.  In 2007, more than 3000 V-Day events took place in 1150 colleges and communities around the world.  To date, this movement has raised over $40 million and educated millions of people about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it.

Here in Grenada, many issues surrounding women and safety are challenging to even discuss, let alone address.  Many merchants in the area were interested in our cause, but would not have their names used to sponsor our event.  I am delighted to report that many persons in the community attended our performances, despite having to confine our stage to the University campus.  In three nights of performances, we raised over $12,500 EC, which was donated to both GNOW (Grenada National Organization of Women) and the LACC (Legal Aid and Counseling Clinic.)

Peter was wonderfully supportive of what had turned out to be a full time job for the week for me, the culmination of a good deal of preparation in the preceding weeks.  Peter stopped by every evening before and after each performance, and he took a break on Saturday evening to experience the show (seeing my piece for the first time) and celebrate afterwards.  Otherwise, I think Peter was happy to have me out of his hair for an entire week so he could power study for an exam next Monday!

After opening night, we celebrated with a glass of wine at Prickly Bay Marina.
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Front row seats!  Peter, Britney, Anna, Jonathan, Noga and Eran all came to the final performance on Saturday.  Bell Lecture Hall was nearly full, with about three hundred in attendance for our third and final show!  The following are photos Peter took on Saturday night.


Candice in "The Flood."



Sheri in "Because He Liked to Look at It."

 
Heather in "The Memory of Her Face."  This piece is about the increased incidence of women victimized by acid burning, especially in the Middle East.  Caustic acid is very cheap and can be purchased easily at hardware stores.  It only takes one toss to permanently disfigure or even kill a person.  Women are typically the victims of this unthinkable abuse.

   
Nicole in "My Angry Vagina;" and Leann and Maya in "My Vagina Was My Village."

 
Liz in "The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could."


Sacha in "Reclaiming Cunt."

The Monologues were a fantastic experience, with an absolutely terrific group of women and "mangina" assistants.


After the show, in white on the left is Lian, our intrepid director.


Mahsa, Maya, and Heather.


Nicole and Heather


My biggest supporter!


The Manginas.


The cast, organizer, director, and GNOW and LACC representatives.

Heather and Liz


Anna and Britney


Peter


Respectable Jonathan.  Not a hint of pirate.


Beyond pirate.  Enter Jonny 70s-Swinger: every pirate's alter-ego.

On Sunday, the SOSs went to Noga's cottage for a swim.  She lives in Woburn, which is on the east side of the island, where waters are very calm.  We swam and snorkeled in an environment that is quite different from the south west extreme of the island that we are most accustomed to.  At first, it was quite a disappointment, as the water was so cloudy we couldn't see the bottom.  Finally, Britney discovered that the best strategy was to hug the coast.  There, we could see that the environment was quite green, with what seemed to be an overgrowth of algae.  Instead of having sandy and rocky colored creatures, there were new species I hadn't seen before that were green, and some that were spotted.  The fish variety in general seemed less colorful with fewer variety.  However, there were more interesting corals and more anemones than I had ever seen in the wild.  Some of the anemone were very large, indeed.