Actor, producer and activist Rosie Motene and actor & director Gina Shmukler are producing a benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues, which will be staged on 10th February 2013 at the Wits Theatre. The popular play, authored by actor and playwright Eve Ensler, is being staged in support of One Billion Rising, a global day of activism against sexual violence. Conceptualised by V-Day, a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, One Billion Rising (OBR) is a day of action against sexual violence, scheduled to take place worldwide on the 14th February 2013. Women and men opposed to sexual violence will participate in a variety of ‘risings’ across the globe on Valentines Day – whether as marches, flash-mobs, dances, demonstrations, and walk-outs – demanding an end to sexual violence.
Since it was originally performed by Ensler over 15 years ago, The Vagina Monologues has been performed all over the world by diverse casts, from celebrities to university students and local community activists and actors – the proceeds of these performances are channeled to local anti-violence organizations around the world. The Vagina Monologues are based on interviews Ensler conducted with women across the globe. The monologues, which are in turn moving, hilarious, thought-provoking and heartbreaking, address the diverse aspects the feminine existence as experienced through the vagina – sex, love, birth, rape, menstruation, masturbation, as well as popular (and often ridiculous) nicknames for the vagina. In keeping with the global tradition of the benefit performances, Jozi’s finest women from stage, radio and television will gather to perform this great play with all proceeds going to POWA(People Opposing Women Abuse).
The cast consists of a range of heavy-hitters, all of whom have donated their services – amongst them Fiona Ramsey, Lebo Mashile, Thembisa Mdoda, Vanessa Cooke, Zuraida Jardine, Napo Masheane, Dawn Lindberg, Unathi Msengana, Penny Lebyane & Leila Henriques.
