The Wo/Men’s and Gender Resource Center presented two benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler’s award winning play, in the SAC auditorium.

Each year from February to April, Ensler, the founder and artistic director of V-Day, releases the rights to her play so that campuses around the world can have the opportunity to put on the production. For Stony Brook, this is the fifth annual performance of the Vagina monologues.

The play, which was performed on Feb. 24 and 25, is made up of monologues based off of interviews Ensler conducted with 200 women in 1996. Each piece has a recurring theme of empowerment through a vagina. Some of the names of the monologues include The Flood, My Vagina Was My Village and I was there in the Room.

V-Day, a non-profit corporation, is a global activist movement to stop violence against women. By creating events to increase awareness, they hope to stop rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sex slavery. To date, the V-Day movement has reached more than 300 million people and raised more than $75 million.

This year, V-Day’s Spotlight Campaign focused on the girls and women of Haiti. All funds raised through the campaign will support a national campaign lead by a coalition of women activists. The Haitian Student Organization along with the Rise Again Haiti, Inc. Stony Brook chapter supported the event.

All proceeds of the night were split between the Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk (VIBS) and The Wo/Men’s and Gender Resource Center (WGRC). Money was raised not only by the purchase of tickets but also the purchases of vagina shaped chocolates and t-shirts, sold before and after the performances.

The night started off with the Pipettes, the campus’ only all-female a capella singing group. The group serenaded the audience as they took their seats. Once they finished their short performance, the monologues began. As more monologues were read throughout the night, the crowd seemed to lighten up and adjust to hearing the word “vagina” spoken so freely. By the end of the night the audience vigorously applauded.

Laura Ruhl, the director of the show, was pleased with the turnout of people in the audience but would have liked to see more faculty support. “The amount of young men in the audience is remarkable to me.” Ruhl said.  Chris Tanaka, the coordinator of the program, said that she hopes people take the time to read all the statistics in the programs and really thought that the play spoke for itself.

“I thought it was really good and very inspirational.” said Andrea DeMarchi, a senior psychology major. “There were some pretty good actresses up there. I’m glad it’s my second time seeing it.” Christine Serpe, a senior women’s studies and psychology major, had similar feelings by calling the monologues “Really empowering to women.” Both girls agreed that if given the chance, they would definitely go see it again.

One of the more humorous monologues of the night was titled, “My Angry Vagina” and was read by Kristie F. Connor on Thursday night and Queen V. Farrar, a junior History and Education major, on Friday night. In the monologue, a woman rants about products such as tampons, which she says are uncomfortable and unjust for vaginas.

Farrar stated that she was more than happy to be a part of the show. She had both read the books and saw the show as a special on Lifetime. When a friend of hers told her about the Stony Brook version, Farrar jumped at the chance to be a part of it.

“It feels good to be a part of something that’s fun and benefits people around the world.” said Farrar. “If possible, I will do this every year for the rest of my life.”