V-Day Liverpool 2014

V-Day Liverpool 2014 Presents A Benefit Reading of The Vagina Monologues with Migrant Artists Mutual Aid and friends

Join Us as we RISE, RELEASE, and DANCE to Demand Justice for Women and Girl Survivors of Violence

The Capstone Theatre, Liverpool Hope University
February 14th, 2014, at 7.30pm

On February 14, 2014, at 7.30pm, V-Day Liverpool will present a one-night only benefit reading of Eve Ensler's award winning play The Vagina Monologues at The Capstone Theatre, Liverpool Hope University. ticketquarter.co.uk/online/eve-enslers-the-vagina-monologues

Last year over 5,800 V-Day benefits were held around the world raising funds and awareness towards ending violence against women. These highly successful events raised over $5 million through performance of The Vagina Monologues and other V-Day productions. Liverpool has joined this global movement as part of the V-Day 2014 Community Campaign.

This special benefit performance is presented this year as part of V-Day's campaign ONE BILLION RISING FOR JUSTICE, a global call for women survivors of violence and those who love them to gather safely in places where they are entitled to justice - courthouses, police stations, government offices, school administration buildings, work places, sites of environmental injustice, military courts, embassies, places of worship, homes, or simply public gathering places where women deserve to feel safe but too often do not - and release their stories through art, dance, marches, ritual, song, spoken word, sit ins, and testimonies.

Two years ago, Migrant Artist Mutual Aid presented their first benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues. The group is back, and going stronger. We run a group for women asylum seekers who want to campaign for their right to stay in the UK, often to protect themselves and their children from gender-based violence.

Migrant Artists Mutual Aid is a network of people who come together to produce community cultural events that aim to promote cohesion and intercultural understanding while raising money for migrants in crisis.

Mutual Aid is not charity, it is a safety net that is based on shared values of justice and equality, it is a safety net that is recession proof, that affirms that even in the toughest times we can stand together to help ourselves.

What are The Vagina Monologues

Hailed by The New York Times as "funny" and "poignant" and by the Daily News as "intelligent" and "courageous," The Vagina Monologues, which was first performed off-Broadway by Ms. Ensler, dives into the mystery, humor, pain, power, wisdom, outrage and excitement buried in women's experiences. Ms. Ensler has performed the play to great acclaim throughout the world - from Zagreb to Santa Barbara, from London to Seattle, from Jerusalem to Oklahoma City.

For this event, professional actresses, passionate mothers and friends alike come together to present a unique version of the much-acclaimed play. For an idea of what to expect, a review can be found at catalystmedia.org.uk/reviews/vagina_monologues.php

"This performance, one of three benefit shows as part of the worldwide V-Day movement, from Migrant Artists Mutual Aid was serious, delightfully funny, poignant and informative....The performances from the cast were engrossing, ranging from the hilarious to the perfectly pitched, the serious to the brilliantly casual in their delivery. The rarely broached topic of the titular vagina was explored thoroughly with interviews from the points of older women, sex workers, refugees, girls and many more besides to excellent and often breathtaking effect. The warmth of many of the monologues despite the sometimes brutal imagery that appeared in your mind was astounding and I felt as though I had learnt some genuinely important facts about the personal, political and physical importance of the vagina to the women interviewed...." (Sebastian Gahan, March 2012,)

The Vagina Monologues will be performed at The Capstone Theatre, Liverpool Hope University Creative Campus, 17 Shaw Street, Liverpool L6 1HP , 7:30, 14 February. Tickets are £10(£8 concessions) and may be purchased at TicketQuarter online, by phoning 0844 8000 410 or at the box office at TicketQuarter, Merseytravel Centre, Queen Square, Liverpool. About One Billion Rising

One Billion Rising was the biggest mass action in human history. The campaign began as a call to action based on the staggering UN statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. On 14 February 2013, people across the world came together to strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women. Over 10,000 events took place on the ground and the campaign took over media and social media worldwide for 48 hours, trending in 7 countries - 4x in the US alone. The wildly successful grassroots campaign was covered widely by media in all corners of world including The New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, and many more. www.onebillionrising.org.

About V-Day V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler's award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. The V-Day movement has raised over $100 million; educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it; crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns; reopened shelters; and funded over 13,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt, and Iraq. V-Day has received numerous acknowledgements and awards and is, one of the Top-Rated organizations on both Charity Navigator and Guidestar. V-Day's most recent global campaign, ONE BILLION RISING, galvanized over one billion women and men on a global day of action towards ending violence against women and girls. vday.org

What is a V-Day Campaign?

A V-Day Campaign is a catalyst for mobilizing women and men to heighten awareness about violence against women and girls. By creating this global community, V-Day strives to empower women to find their collective voices and demand an end to the violence that affects one in three women in the U.S and around the world.

V-Day Liverpool is a local effort within the worldwide context of the 2014 V-Day Campaign.

To learn more about V-Day Liverpool, call 07504 077 826 or e-mail the organization at jenniferverson@gmail.com To learn more about V-Day and its campaigns visit www.vday.org.