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              Shawnee State University will be presenting its fourth annual production of “The Vagina Monologues” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 5 and Saturday, Feb. 6 at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts in the Kahl Theater.
              “The Vagina Monologues” written by Eve Ensler is an Obie award-winning episodic play made up of a number of monologues read by a variety of different women.
              The play is the cornerstone of the V-Day movement, whose participants stage benefit performances of the show worldwide each year between Feb. 1 and March 8 to raise money for local domestic violence shelters.
              “This is our fourth year presenting the play in conjunction with the V-Day College Campaign, an international organization dedicated to ending violence against women and girls,” SSU Women’s Center Director Roberta Milliken said.
The first V-Day benefit took place on Valentine's Day 1998 and since then the play has been translated into 45 different languages and performed in more than 119 countries.
The production will be directed by SSU’s Ann Linden, senior instructor in the English and Humanities Department. She has been involved with the monologues for several years, previously at Marshall University.
              “I hope that spectators come away from the show with a greater appreciation for the diversity of women’s experience, a deeper understanding of the violence that is still being perpetrated against women and girls around the world, the urgency of ending such violence, and the satisfaction of seeing a powerful, entertaining theatrical production,” Linden said.
              Milliken recommends that everyone, both men and women see the production.
              “It’s a wonderfully powerful and moving production,” Milliken said. “Most of the performances in the past have sold out, so I hope people will purchase their tickets early,”
              Tickets are now on sale in the McKinley Box Office. General Admission is $10 with patron seating priced at $25. For more information on “The Vagina Monologues,” visit www.vday.org