‘Monologues’ raise donations for CAPSA
Utah State University service learning theater and cast members from the community celebrated Valentine’s Day differently this year. They joined more than 1,100 colleges and communities to celebrate V-Day and promote an end to domestic violence.
According to the V-Day Web site, www.vday.org, V-Day stands for Valentine, victory and vagina.
At USU, V-Day was commemorated by producing “The Vagina Monologues,” a play by Eve Ensler, and donating the money raised to Logan’s Community Abuse Prevention Services Agency, commonly known as CAPSA.
“I say vagina because I want people to respond,” Ensler said, referring to the illustrious name of her monologues in a review.
The university responded, with a total attendance of more than 400 professors and students spread out over three nights, Feb. 14-16.
“It seemed like the appropriate outlet for the theater department to provide service for the community,” said Artemis Preeshl, co-director of the production and assistant professor for USU theatre arts, said.
This is the first semester the theater department has had the service learning class. Preeshl and Robin Black are the professors. It works in conjunction with the service learning scholar program, and seeks to use theater to help the community. The students have had opportunities to serve around Logan with groups like Common Ground and at the Sunshine Terrace, Preeshl said.
“This happened to be one example of community outreach,” Preeshl said.
The exact amount of money the production raised is still to be determined because of sponsors that have yet to submit their donation, but Preeshl was excited to say that it was more than $8,000. The original goal was $6,000.
“We exceeded our goal by a third. That’s extraordinary,” Preeshl said.
Ten percent of the proceeds raised will go to pay royalties to V-Day, the “global movement to stop violence against women and girls,” the Web site states. This money goes to help Ensler’s organization with projects from South Africa to Saudi Arabia.
The rest of the money will go to CAPSA.
“Private donations, grants and foundations. That’s what keeps it together,” CAPSA Executive Director Pam Allen said. CAPSA operates on a $600,000 annual budget to keep programs, like individual and group counseling, and services, like the 24-hour helpline going.
Ensler’s vision for the celebration of women extends beyond annual February performances of her monologues.
“Performance is just the beginning. V-Day stages large-scale benefits and produces innovative gatherings, films and campaigns to educate and change social attitudes towards violence against women,” according to the Web site.
V-Day at USU included pre-performance talks, each night having a different topic. The talks were included with the ticket price and the lectures were done by USU professors. The English department also did a free post-performance writing workshop for viewers to further evaluate and express what they had seen.
The USU’s performance had minimal costs, thanks to a space grant and administrative support from the department of theater arts that allowed the cast to rehearse without paying to rent the building. Private individuals, USU’s women and gender studies program and the USU Women’s Center also donated, Preeshl said.
“We wanted to reach out to the community. As far as casting, what we really looked for is a cross-section,” Preeshl said of the cast that included professors, students and members of the community.
“Utah State and CAPSA have a very good working relationship,” Allen said. She has served on several committees at USU, most recently to select the sexual assault and anti-violence information (SAAVI) coordinator.
The service learning class would like to continue raising money for organizations that work to end domestic violence, either with further productions of the VMs or perhaps fewer graphic productions with a similar theme.
“The class was 100 percent behind it. Everyone was very excited about [the money raised],” Preeshl said.
-natandrews@cc.usu.edu