Written by Tamara Dudley
“I’ll bet you were worried. We were worried. We were worried about vaginas.”
This line opens the Vagina Monologues, a theatrical piece that combines sarcastic, witty humour with hard-hitting topics about the experiences of women. Starting with this piece, Eve Ensler, the author of the Vagina Monologues, created a movement called VDAY that works to end violence against women and girls while raising awareness about feminist issues.
VDAY has become a global cause, giving women and girls a stage to demand an end to the violence that we all face, in the media, in language, and often at home or on the streets. Since 1996, this cause has been raising money for its own campaigns, while also allowing 90% of the profits from performances of the Vagina Monologues and its sister scripts to go to local causes supporting women.
The Howe Sound Women’s Centre Society is one of those causes. For the past 6 years, Quest University Canada has performed a VDAY script and donated the admission proceeds to the Howe Sound Women’s Centre, while the Centre has held its own biennial performances in Squamish and Whistler. This year, we combined our efforts into two performances of the Vagina Monologues at Quest University Canada with a cast of student performers, and included a silent auction in the event. With the hard work of several dedicated individuals, including Gina Markle, Jenna Saffin, Elise Scribner, Tamara Dudley, and Megan Reynolds, in addition to the cast and volunteers, we raised over $2,200 for the Howe Sound Women’s Centre Society, over three times the amount raised by Quest University’s performance last year.
We are so pleased with the success of this performance, and are excited for future partnerships with Quest University Canada on VDAY performances, and other feminist events.
