From 16 January through 28 February, ABC Carpet and Home’s flagship store at 888 Broadway (19th Street), NYC will celebrate 20 years of V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and gender non-conforming) that grew out of Tony award- winning playwright Eve Ensler’s groundbreaking play, The Vagina Monologues. The store will devote its corner window display to V-Day featuring iconic V-Day images, posters and artwork from around the globe curated by V-Day’s team in collaboration with photojournalist Paula Allen and designer Alexandra Tuller. The windows provide a vivid snapshot of the creativity and vision of V-Day activists and a representation of art and activism at a global scale.
Since 1998, The Vagina Monologues and other works have been performed across the world by local V-Day activists, raising over $100 million dollars for grassroots anti-violence groups and safe houses in places like Kenya and Afghanistan. V-Day launched and supports the City of Joy, a revolutionary center for women survivors of gender violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has graduated over 1000 women leaders.
V-Day and ABC Carpet and Home have a long history of collaboration through the store’s Deepak Homebase, which has hosted numerous V-Day discussions, through the ABC Home and Planet Foundation, of which V-Day is a beneficiary, and through stand alone events, such as Superlove, which celebrated V-Day’s 10th anniversary and served women from the Gulf South in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
About V-Day and V20: Twenty years ago, Eve Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues gave birth to V-Day, a global activist movement to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and gender non-conforming).
Since 1998, The Vagina Monologues and other works have been performed across the world by local V-Day activists, raising over $100 million dollars for grassroots anti-violence groups, rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, and safe houses in places like Kenya and Afghanistan. V-Day supports and launched the City of Joy, a revolutionary center for women survivors of gender violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has graduated over 1000 women leaders.
Activists look at the intersection of class, race, gender, environmental destruction, imperialism, militarism, patriarchy, poverty, and war, as women face abuse and exploitation across layers of systematic and societal oppression, with the most marginalized and excluded often facing increased levels of violence.
In 2013, V-Day gave birth to One Billion Rising – the largest mass action to demand an end to violence against women in history. V-Day and One Billion Rising are a crucial part of the global fight to stop gender-based violence through attacking the silence — public and private — that allows violence against women to continue.
With ingenuity and determination, V-Day activists around the world are tirelessly working to end harassment, rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sex slavery.
V-Day and One Billion Rising Activists – we have lots of news to share. Please take a moment and read these updates.
With V-love & gratitude,
Tony & the V-Day/OBR team
Say It, Stage It! V-Day Benefit Performances Have Been Extended Through March!
The V-Day campaigns are running at full tilt as revolutionary V20 celebration is in the air. With almost 650 locations signed up at colleges and communities across the globe, there will be close to 2,000 performances of The Vagina Monologues and A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer this V-Season. Benefit performances are happening in all sorts of venues, from correctional facilities to churches to restaurants. Registrations are coming in each day!
In honor of V-Day’s 20th anniversary we are keeping registration open and allowing performances to be done throughout March. If you have been thinking about producing an event, NOW is the time, here is your chance. Please register at https://vspot.vday.org.
Say It, Stage It, READ IT! The Vagina Monologues V20 Edition
Author/playwright Eve Ensler will donate 100% her royalties from the sale of the 20th Anniversary edition of The Vagina Monologues to V-Day. This new V20 edition of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES (Ballantine Trade Paperback) will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the play that changed the way women think about their bodies.
Full of new content, it features a foreword by Jacqueline Woodson, an afterword by One Billion Rising Director Monique Wilson, a new introduction by Eve, six never-before-published Spotlight monologues, and a chapter on V-Day by Executive Director Susan Celia Swan and Senior Programs Director Purva Panday Cullman.
Selling books at your event?
Many of you have asked about selling books at your event. We are happy for you to have vendors at your event. Did you know that you can ask your local bookstore to come & sell copies of this new edition of The Vagina Monologues? Reach out and ask, in many cases they will send someone over to do the sales on sight. If you aren’t able to arrange for a bookstore to sell, you can also order copies through the customer service line (1-800-733-3000) and tell them it’s for an event. Event orders over $300 (18 books) receive a discount of 40%.
Potential Addition to your Event: “My Revolution Lives in This Body” Short Film
In commemoration of V20, the twentieth anniversary of V-Day and “The Vagina Monologues”, V-Day and One Billion Rising are proud to present “My Revolution Lives In This Body”, a short film (4:48) written by Eve Ensler, performed by Rosario Dawson (V-Day Board Member) and directed and edited by filmmaker Deborah Anderson. The film was produced by OBR Global Director Monique Wilson and Susan Celia Swan.
20 years ago the V-Day movement came into being when people everywhere dared to say the word vagina out loud, to speak their truth and own their sexuality. “My Revolution Lives In This Body” is a call to women and men around the world to awaken their visions, dreams, desires, to be emboldened, to demand them. The film through Eve’s words and Rosario’s brilliant vocal performance set to imagery and footage of women from around the world – is a call to revolution and a reminder of how our bodies are intricately connected to the world at large. The future of the planet, in essence, depends on each of us.
Feel free to show this video as one of your spotlight choices in your performance.
“My revolution shows up unexpectedly
It’s not naïve but believes in miracles
Cannot be categorized targeted branded
Or even located
Offers prophecy not prescription
Is determined by mystery and ecstatic joy
Requires listening
Is not centralized though we all know where we’re going
It happens in stages and all at once
It happens where you live and everywhere
It understands that divisions are diversions
It requires sitting still and staring deep into my eyes
Go ahead
Love.”
– Eve Ensler from “My Revolution Lives In This Body”
In commemoration of V20, the twentieth anniversary of V-Day and “The Vagina Monologues”, V-Day and One Billion Rising are proud to present “My Revolution Lives In This Body”, a short film written by Eve Ensler, performed by Rosario Dawson (V-Day Board Member) and directed and edited by filmmaker Deborah Anderson. The film was produced by Monique Wilson and Susan Celia Swan.
20 years ago the V-Day movement came into being when people everywhere dared to say the word vagina out loud, to speak their truth and own their sexuality. “My Revolution Lives In This Body” is a call to women and men around the world to awaken their visions, dreams, desires, to be emboldened, to demand them. The film – through Eve’s words and Rosario’s brilliant vocal performance, set to imagery and footage of women from around the world – is a call to revolution and a reminder of how our bodies are intricately connected to the world at large. The future of the planet, in essence, depends on each of us.
V-Day and OBR Activists: The short film is a great addition to your program at your benefits and Rising events!
V20: RISE 2018
In 2018, organizing a ONE BILLION RISING event or staging a V-Day benefit production of The Vagina Monologues or A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer is more than a theatrical experience; it is an ARTISTIC UPRISING, a RADICAL act, an ACT OF RESISTANCE.
Transform radical spaces. Amplify and lift up the most marginalized groups and activists in your communities. Spotlight resistance, invite local activists to share their testimonies of resistance and amplify new voices. RISE, RESIST, UNITE.
THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES launched the V-Day movement and now, twenty years later, Eve is back on stage again in her new one-woman show IN THE BODY OF THE WORLD.
Twenty years ago, Eve’s play The Vagina Monologues gave birth to V-Day, a global activist movement to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and gender non-conforming). The play and the playwright exploded onto the scene, garnering headlines and rave reviews, filling the theater night after night, breaking taboos, opening spaces for dialogue where they hadn’t existed before, and shattering the silence around women’s experiences with sexuality and violence. It was path-breaking. In 2006, The New York Times called The Vagina Monologues “probably the most important piece of political theater of the last decade.”
SEE EVE ON STAGE IN NYC In the Body of the World, a powerful new play based on Eve’s critically acclaimed memoir opens at Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC’s Stage I at NY City Center) on 6 February, with previews beginning 16 January.
While working with women suffering from the ravages of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eve was stunned by a life-threatening diagnosis. Told with humor and grit, Eve’s personal journey uncovers surprising connections between her body and the earth and how illness can be both transformative and transcendent. Directing this bold, unflinching and inspiring piece is Tony Award winner Diane Paulus (Waitress, Pippin). In the Body of the World is an American Repertory Theater production.
Some performances will feature talkbacks with guest speakers to go ‘beyond the stage’ and further explore the subject matter. Speakers include Christine Schuler Deschryver (Feb 13, 15, 16 & 17), Eve herself (Feb 22), and Cynthia Nixon (March 1), along with a range of artists, medical professionals, scholars and activists. Click here to see the calendar on the show website (tap the green squares to see guest speakers).
Special discount code VDAY available for V-Day and One Billion Rising activists and supporters. Info and tickets here.
Manhattan Theatre Club is fully accessible to people with disabilities. Click here to read more about the facilities and available services.
Limit: 6 per order. All tickets are $45 plus $2.50 facility fee (regular price is $90). This offer is good in all areas of the house, for all performances except opening night (6 Feb). Handling fees for online and phone orders apply.
20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES RELEASED TODAY “This play changed the world. Seeing it changed my soul. Performing in it changed my life. I am forever indebted to Eve and the transformative legacy of this play.” – Kerry Washington
This new edition of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES (Ballantine Trade Paperback) will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the play that changed the way women think about their bodies.
Full of new content, it features a foreword by Jacqueline Woodson, an afterword by One Billion Rising Director Monique Wilson, a new introduction by Eve, six never-before-published Spotlight monologues, and a chapter on V-Day by Executive Director Susan Celia Swan and Senior Programs Director Purva Panday Cullman. 100% of the author royalties will be donated to V-Day.
In 2018, organizing a ONE BILLION RISING event or staging a V-Day benefit production of The Vagina Monologues or A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer is more than a theatrical experience; it is an ARTISTIC UPRISING, a RADICAL act, an ACT OF RESISTANCE.
Transform radical spaces. Amplify and lift up the most marginalized groups and activists in your communities. Spotlight resistance, invite local activists to share their testimonies of resistance and amplify new voices. RISE, RESIST, UNITE.
As the year draws to a close, we send you our deepest, most heartfelt gratitude.
Your devotion, your ingenuity, your bravery in 2017 and over these past twenty years has supported grassroots anti-violence organizations, opened safe houses, kept shelters from closing and brought about legislation supporting the safety of women and girls.
The V-Day movement has grown rapidly, stretching to all corners of the earth, igniting activism in over 200 countries and raising well over $100 million to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender and gender nonconforming).
It exploded taboos and assumptions about women’s sexuality and people living on the margins of society, bringing survivors out of the darkness and creating the foundation, and then the layers on top of it, for movements like #MeToo to take foot and for the recent avalanche of survivors’ stories to keep cascading.
In 2017, activists worldwide have been organizing and rehearsing their artistic productions of The Vagina Monologues and A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer and One Billion Rising activists are planning Risings – all to bring the issue of violence against women and girls front and center in their communities. City of Joy in the Congo reached a new milestone with over 1000 women leaders graduated! With abundant crops and ever deepening community involvement, V-World Farm is growing and thriving and the documentary about the City of Joy – has been seen at film festivals worldwide, with more screenings being added in the New Year.
The collective impact of this work is profound. We have seen how it activates people’s hearts and minds, leaving lasting reverberations – some that are felt seismically, and others that are felt like the flap of a butterfly’s wing. Both are powerful, both are necessary.
They are the ingredients of cultural change. Change that The Vagina Monologues called forward 20 years ago. Change needed now.
Support the Movement to End Violence Against Women and Girls. DONATE to V-Day >
With our deepest gratitude and V-love,
Eve, Susan, Christine, Monique, Purva, Tony, Carl, Kristina, Leila, & Anju
Support the global movement to end violence against women and girls. DONATE to V-Day >
31 December is the last day to make charitable donations in order to claim them on your 2017 tax return. V-Day is a top-rated charity on Guidestar and Charity Navigator.
City of Joy, the transformational leadership community for women survivors of gender violence, in the Democratic Republic of Congo just reached a historic milestone. With the graduation of the 12th class, over 1000 women leaders have graduated from City of Joy!
As of today, we have seen 1028 amazing women go through the program, all of who are giving back to their communities.
“During the graduation ceremony, the 12th class graduates explained with fierce, elegance, openness and power how the six month stay and empowerment had helped them break glass ceilings, push the frontiers of women’s leadership and pave the path for other women and girls to follow in their footsteps and become future leaders…The joy that came to the graduates and participants in the ceremony was immeasurable. The day was full of demonstrations. It was full of surprise. It was special and remains unique in the life of each graduate who was proud to celebrate herself and her femininity as a Vagina Warrior.” – V-Day Congo Director/Director of City of Joy Christine Schuler Deschryver
CITY OF JOY Documentary Film Concludes 2017 Festival Tour and Readies for Screenings in 2018
What a year for CITY OF JOY the film, which has enjoyed an incredible festival run, playing to sold-out audiences and winning numerous awards. As we head into 2018, the film is already scheduled to screen at a number of exciting festivals:
OXFORD HUMAN RIGHTS FESTIVAL
7pm, Thursday 15 March 2018
John Henry Brookes Lecture Theatre,
Oxford Brookes University TICKETS >
Beaufort International Film Festival
10:30am, Thursday 22 February 2018
University of South Carolina Beaufort Center for the Arts
805 Carteret St
Beaufort, SC 29902 TICKETS >
Learn More about CITY OF JOY and See the Trailer here: cityofjoyfilm.com
“The holiday season is a very important time in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, many people on the island are lacking basic necessities like clean water, power, and hot meals. Through this continuing crisis, many in Puerto Rico are rebuilding their own communities one home at a time, one neighborhood at a time. Millions of dollars have been raised for those on the island, however, much of those resources have not gone to the people or grassroots community organizations on the ground each and every day, doing the work. V-Day and PR on the Map are thrilled to be joining forces to provide resources to three trusted community organizations. They provide direct aid in their respective municipalities. So, this holiday season, let’s give where it is needed most. Let’s support our sisters and brothers in Puerto Rico who have been abandoned by the state. How could any new sweater or gadget make you feel better than knowing you provided drinkable water, food, electricity, and love for people?” – Eve Ensler and Rosa Clemente
This Giving Season, V-Day and PR on the Map have created the Puerto Rico Rising Fund, a response fund that will support youth, women and organizers in Puerto Rico as they work to take care of themselves and their community.
Instead of buying gifts this holiday season, you can send the money you would spend on presents to a fund for various community groups on the ground in Puerto Rico who are leading the revitalization on the frontlines. Make a donation in your name or give the gift of solidarity, by making a donation in the name of a loved one. We will send a gorgeous digital card notifying the recipient of your thoughtful gift, a donation in their name providing much needed support to people who are working around the clock to provide basic human needs – water, food, and shelter.
AgitArte: Casa-Taller Cangrejera is AgitArte’s community and cultural space in Santurce, Puerto Rico. For the past 10 years, Casa-Taller has been a space for artists, organizers, and community members of Santurce and beyond to gather, collaborate and build cultural projects, grow our own food, and educate ourselves and our community. They are expanding their work during the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Boys and Girls Club of Loiza: The mission of the Boys and Girls Club is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Donations will be earmarked to help rebuild the club in Loiza, PR.
Feminist Collective: As a feminist grassroots organization active since 2014, Colectiva Feminista en Construcción is committed to the struggle for the well-being of the most vulnerable communities in Puerto Rico. Funds raised will go to establishing a grassroots-organized space that would work as an oasis, meeting and gathering point and distribution center of resources to alleviate the most urgent necessities of women, LGBTQ people, non-binary folks and other people and communities in resistance.
That is why right now, it is critically important to uplift the people on the ground in Puerto Rico that have been working tirelessly to take care of each other and their island. The work is just beginning and will be going on for many years.
As the year draws closer to an end, we can’t help but think back on the improbable journey The Vagina Monologues and V-Day cast us on, almost twenty years ago. Our movement has grown rapidly, stretching to all corners of the earth, igniting activism in over 200 countries and raising well over $100 million to end violence against all women and girls. We couldn’t have dreamed it.
As we write to you, activists are busy planning and rehearsing, readying their artistic productions and Risings to bring the issue of violence against women and girls front and center in their communities. The collective impact of this work is profound.
We have seen how it activates people’s hearts and minds, leaving lasting reverberations – some that are felt seismically, and others that are felt like the flap of a butterfly’s wing. Both are powerful, both are necessary. They are the ingredients of cultural change.
Culture change that The Vagina Monologues called forward 20 years ago. Culture change needed now.
On #GivingTuesday, Support the Movement to End Violence Against Women and Girls. DONATE to V-Day >
RISE IN SOLIDARITY: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence
From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, One Billion Rising and V-Day activists across the planet are RISING IN SOLIDARITY for the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign. Following are a few updates from actions that have already taken place. #RiseInSolidarity
In Swaziland, 10 November saw the launch of One Billion Rising Swaziland where activists will Rise on 14 February, 2018, an election year. Representation of women in government, a larger platform for their voices and protection of women in legislative bodies are a few key highlights of their campaign. In India, the Baba Sahab Ambedkar Marathwada University Tara Bai Shinde Women’s Studies Centre in Aurangabad invited One Billion Rising South Asia Regional Coordinator, Kamla Bhasin, for a day-long discussion. Kamla shared: “It was most energising to be at the Tara Bai Shinde Women’s Studies Centre, of the Baba Sahab Ambedkar Marathwada University in Aurangabad, for a day-long discussion on Men and Masculinity, in Hindi. Over 130 students, teachers, local citizens, almost half of them men, participated. I talked about all our campaigns, especially One Billion Rising and Property for Her. Made many new partners. I was delighted to receive a copy of a book in Marathi containing four of my books on Patriarchy, Gender, Masculinity and Feminism. That compendium is their main reading on these issues. Of course delighted.” In Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, on 25 November, City of Joy activists took a stand against slavery and rose for Freedom. In the Philippines, on 27 November, activists in Davao City rose in Solidarity against the exploitation of women and girls. One Billion Rising Director Monique Wilson joined them!
#16DaysOfActivism
#1BillionRising
“CITY OF JOY” Documentary Film Continues Festival Run
As the year nears its end, CITY OF JOY is continuing its festival tour across the US and the world.
As the year draws closer to an end, we can’t help but think back on the improbable journey The Vagina Monologues and V-Day cast us on, almost twenty years ago. Our movement has grown rapidly, stretching to all corners of the earth, igniting activism in over 200 countries and raising well over $100 million to end violence against all women and girls. We couldn’t have dreamed it.
As we write to you, activists are busy planning and rehearsing, readying their artistic productions and Risings to bring the issue of violence against women and girls front and center in their communities. The collective impact of this work is profound.
We have seen how it activates people’s hearts and minds, leaving lasting reverberations – some that are felt seismically, and others that are felt like the flap of a butterfly’s wing. Both are powerful, both are necessary. They are the ingredients of cultural change.
Culture change that The Vagina Monologues called forward 20 years ago. Culture change needed now.
Support the global movement to end violence against women and girls. DONATE to V-Day >
This holiday season, as we take stock and look ahead, we are sending you our deepest, most heartfelt gratitude. Your devotion, your ingenuity, your bravery over twenty years has supported anti-violence organizations, opened safe houses, kept shelters from closing and brought about legislation supporting the safety of women and girls. It exploded taboos and assumptions about women’s sexuality and people living on the margins of society, bringing survivors out of the darkness and creating the foundation, and then the layers on top of it, for movements like #MeToo to take foot and for the recent avalanche of survivors’ stories to keep cascading.
Your support of this work brought the issue of violence against women to the front page and into the global discourse. Your belief in the power of art to transform thinking is just as important today as it was twenty years ago.
If we have learned anything over these past two decades, it is that at times of crisis – when things feel the most broken – we need to show up, and show up big. It’s at these moments that true transformation can happen. The window is small, but the potential infinite. Our movement was born for this moment. Your support makes our work possible. Please consider giving to V-Day this season.
From our small, raucous, international team scattered across the globe to you, out there as individuals or with a group of fellow activists, we give thanks for you this V-season. Knowing that you are doing the hard, everyday work of keeping ending violence against women and girls at the forefront of conversations makes our work that much more meaningful. Seeing the joy and creativity you bring to it makes it that much more beautiful. Witnessing your courage gives us our own.
With all our V-love,
Eve, Susan, Christine, Monique, Purva, Tony, Carl, Kristina, Leila, & Anju
Support the global movement to end violence against women and girls. DONATE to V-Day >
31 December is the last day to make charitable donations in order to claim them on your 2017 tax return. V-Day is a top rated charity on Guidestar and Charity Navigator.
Author/playwright Eve Ensler will donate 100% her royalties from the sale of the 20th Anniversary edition of The Vagina Monologues to V-Day. This new V20 edition of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES (Ballantine Trade Paperback) will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the play that changed the way women think about their bodies.
Our movement was born for this moment. Your support makes our work possible. 
As the year draws closer to an end, we can’t help but think back on the improbable journey The Vagina Monologues and V-Day cast us on, almost twenty years ago. Our movement has grown rapidly, stretching to all corners of the earth, igniting activism in over 200 countries and raising well over $100 million to end violence against all women and girls. We couldn’t have dreamed it.
