For many, the topic of the female anatomy is disconcerting. But Wilkes’ yearly production of “The Vagina Monologues” aims to help increase awareness and to stop violence against women and girls.

P3 pharmacy major and student coordinator Angela D’Alessandro, is in her fourth year directing and fifth year participating in the show. D’Alessandro feels it is extremely important for people to become aware of violence against women and girls.

“Coming from a small campus, kids think, ‘that doesn’t happen here; that happens at big schools, big party schools’ and that’s not true,” D’Alessandro said. “It happens at Wilkes, it happens everywhere.”

Eve Ensler, the creator of “The Vagina Monologues” and the V-Day organization, wrote the show from interviews she conducted with women from all over the world who shared their real life experiences with sex, masturbation, birth, rape and names associated with the vagina. The monologues have been performed all over the world, at college campuses across the country and by celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg and Jane Fonda.

The monologues push past comfort zones into reality and truth behind different women’s experiences. D’Alessandro says the openness and honesty has surprised many people in the past.

“We tell people in the very beginning, it’s OK if you want to laugh or if you want to cry,” D’Alessandro said. “People don’t usually talk about vaginas out loud and up front.”

The show will present some monologues with a comedic angle, but some stories will be serious, with the intent of creating an open and honest way for people to become more aware violence to women around them.

“There are some monologues that are so heart breaking, and it’s so sad, but they’re beautiful,” D’Alessandro said.

“The Vagina Monologues” was created to not only increase awareness of violence to women and girls in the world, but to assure women that they are not alone. That there are places women can get help if they are being abused, know someone that is being abused or if they just want to talk. The Victims’ Resource Center, The Domestic Violence Service Center, and Planned Parenthood of Wilkes-Barre. They will have tables set up providing information about their different resources and their contact information.

Each year since 1998, the V-Day organization does a spotlight monologue about an area of the world where women and girls are the most vulnerable. This year’s “Vagina Monologue” has a different spotlight from last year’s performance. This year the spotlight will be focused on the Democratic Republic of Congo, New Orleans, La., and Haiti. It will be read by senior English major Sarah Crolick.

The money made from Vagina Monologues show goes toward the National V-Day Organization, The Victim’s Resource Center, The Domestic Violence Service Center and Planned Parenthood in Wilkes-Barre.

“We also ask donations from some of the deans, programming board, and student government to help us and allow Wilkes students to come for free,” D’Alessandro said.

The Vagina Monologues has also brought together students and teachers for this cause.

“It’s cool because a lot of us don’t get to see kids from different majors and to work with teachers in a different way and it really brings people together,” D’Alessandro said.

The Vagina Monologues will be performed at 7 p.m. Feb. 10 and 11 and will be held in the Henry Student Ballroom of the SUB. Tickets are free for Wilkes students; tickets for other colleges with their student IDs are $5, and general admission is $10. T-shirts and chocolate vagina lollipops will be sold there as well. For more information about the performance and the V-Day movement, contact the Vagina Monologues student coordinator, Angela D’Alessandro at [email protected].

For more information on V-Day 2012: http://www.vday.org/home

For more information on the organizations: http://www.vrcnepa.org/index.php

http://www.domesticviolenceservice.org/

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-center/centerDetails.asp?f=2761&a=91410&v=details