On February 14, 2023, a staged reading from the book The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler took place at the Puppet Theatre on the Crossroads , with which we joined V-Day, the movement Let's not be silent, let's stop violence against women.
Students of the Department of Acting of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts Eva Gribová, Klára Novotná, Zuzana Zaušková and Martina Chmelanová participated in a reading from the book The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, translated by Jana Juráňová, at the Puppet Theatre on the Crossroads in Banská Bystrica. 13 exceptional women from Bystrica, authorities from university, teaching, civic, theatrical, but also student life, read from the world-famous book, which was awarded an Obie Award. In addition to our listeners, Lujza Urbancová, Diana Javorčíková, Daniela Kováčová, Marta Gajdošíková, Jana Sýkorová, Barbora Bystrianska, Mária Šamajová, Marianna Mackurová and Veronika Zelinová also performed.
Eve Ensler's groundbreaking and famous play The Vagina Monologues was first performed in New York in 1998 on February 14. The performance is based on fictional monologues inspired by interviews with over 200 women and talks openly about the female body. It reveals both the worries and joys associated with it and is still one of the most awarded and cult works. In 2006, the New York Times called it "probably the most important political theatre of the last decade." The performance of this performance was the beginning of something bigger. The audience decided to help on this occasion and raised over 250 thousand dollars for local organizations fighting violence. It was the first V-Day in history. V-Day is known today as a global activist movement that Ensler launched to help fight violence against women and girls. The letter "V" in the name may seem related to Valentine's Day at first glance, but according to the movement, it also refers to the words vagina and victory. In English, the word violence also begins with it. V-Day appeals to stop violence against women and hundreds of universities, civic associations, and informal groups of women participate in it every year. The Puppet Theatre at the Crossroads was the first theatre in Slovakia to organize student readings in three cities (Banská Bystrica, Košice, Prešov) in cooperation with the Fenestra women's crisis centre from Košice in 2003. The ideas of the book, which Ensler wrote based on the stories of victims, as well as V-day, are still relevant. Even more so at a time when the amendment to the Criminal Code on Rape was not approved, which does not make life easier for victims and survivors.
Proceeds from the stage reading were donated to support DEBORA, a shelter for mothers with children in Banská Bystrica.
Photo: M. Pecko, I. Urbanová
