Congratulations to Dr. Denis Mukwege, founder of the Panzi Hospital, for also being named to TIME’s list of the 100 Most Influential people for his work healing the survivors of wartime rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Don’t miss your chance to see the world premiere of Eve’s newest work In The Body of The World – at American Repertory Theater (ART) in Cambridge, MA from May 10-29, 2016. Tickets are going fast, reserve your seat today.
Each performance will feature a post-show talkback with doctors, experts and activists. On 22 and 25 May, join City of Joy & V-Day Congo’s Director Christine Schuler Deschryver to hear about the amazing updates about City of Joy and V-World Farm firsthand from Christine.
READ coverage in BroadwayWorld with more information on the play and other talkback guests >
4/18/2016“I loved this woman, Doris Roberts. She left us yesterday. I bow down to her kindness, her loyalty, her huge talent, her devotion to all things good. I will miss you dear dear Doris.” – Eve Ensler, playwright, activist and founder of V-Day and One Billion Rising.
With V-love & gratitude, we remember Doris Roberts. Doris was a passionate and dedicated supporter of the V-Day movement. She participated in numerous benefits including V To The 10th in New Orleans, Viva Vevolution, the Until The Violence Stops Festival, and many more. We send our love and sympathies to her family.
Greetings from Bukavu My Dear Sisters and Brothers,
I write in the middle of a glorious downpour.
It will be five years in June since we opened City of Joy. Between the insecurity, lack of roads, little electricity, mad rain, costs of building, the vision of our Congolese sisters could easily not have been realized. So first, this is a huge thank you to all of you who believed in the vision and who have stayed with us on this miraculous journey.
On June 23, at our next graduation, 759 women will have graduated City of Joy. 759 women will have been healed, nurtured, educated, fed, empowered joined into a community and network of love and revolution. 759 women will have released massive trauma and horrific memories. 759 women will have danced, sung, learned their rights, performed plays, developed agricultural skills, come to love their bodies. 759 women will be leaders in their communities, no longer stigmatized for being raped but instead forces of energy and determination, entrepreneurs of small business, initiators of collectives, restaurants owners, farmers with new land, educators and advocates on sexual violence, volunteers in a self-created recruiting network for new women at COJ, journalists, immigration workers, tailors, students, herbalists. 42 graduates are employed at V-world Farm.
Saturday we took a visit, all of us to V-World farm. It is astounding, to see what has happened here in less than 3 years. We employ 180-280 (depending on the season). We’ve made great friends with our neighbors through intensive outreach efforts, even given some a plot of land so they are with us in our efforts. We’ve planted 20,000 trees. There is a new stunningly made road that runs through much of the farm. The enormous warehouse building is up and running and the new machines that are stored there for rice, corn and flour were purchased through the sale of our eggs. We have 40 goats, and lots of baby goats, 330 bunnies, 279 pigs, 30 sheep. We harvested more than 30 tons of rice. We have produced 38 kilos of honey with traditional banana leave bee hives.
The day at the farm was remarkable for so many reasons, to be in our fields for a walk and picnic with our 90 girls and team would have been heaven alone, but this day took everything to a new level. We drained one of the Tilapia ponds together. The fish were bountiful, huge and healthy. The act of draining and carrying and cleaning the fish together in this community of so much joy and care was one of the most beautiful experiences I can remember.
When we began City of Joy, we said we would wait five years before we could assess whether our experiment could or would work. Well we are here and the answer is a wild, definitive yes. I believe we have created a model for turning pain to power and planting, for transforming trauma into joy and leadership, for healing through land and love. Christine and I believe it is time to begin to write up a small manual/book on what we have done, what we have learned and how City of Joys could be spread everywhere.
This program is solely owned, run, and determined by the Congolese. It is their vision and their huge success. One of things we have learned, although she would not say this herself, is that creating and running a City of Joy is impossible without impeccable, brilliant, tireless devoted leadership. We are here because of Christine Schuler Deschryver. Her efforts have been heroic. She has trained and nurtured staff and young women and the community in one of the most impoverished, broken, violent places in the world and she has done it with vision, firmness, honestly and clarity.
She is the Mama, the ultimate Mama of City of Joy. Her love has made miracles and shall I say, help make what I believe is the most joyful place I have been in the world.
We all know none of this would have happened without your amazing generosity. I do hope you will stay with us on this incredible journey as we evolve and create a program and community that may be a template for transforming trauma and pain everywhere.
All my love and gratitude,
Eve
SUPPORT our work in the Congo. DONATE today.
Today is International Women’s Day and around the world activists are leading the revolution and continuing to RISE! In the Philippines, activists are using the hashtag #rise2march8 to Rise against poverty & violence and to demand justice, in Botswana risers from a cross section of society gathered to RISE, dance and demand an end to gender based violence, and in Mexico thousands of activists gathered around the country to Rise against sex trafficking and to end violence against women and girls.
TAKE a look at of some of the amazing RISING events still coming in:
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Antioch Univeristy, USA
READ the Rise for Revolution 2016 photo essay on The Huffington Post
Saturday 12 March, Women of the World presents the latest “Bodies of Revolution” panel discussion on why and how women experience violence, militarization and war at the hands of the state and how they are Rising collectively against it. Speakers include Rada Boric, Center for Women’s Studies in Zagreb, Christine Schuler Deschryver, Director of City of Joy, Eve, Founder of V-Day & One Billion Rising, and Monique Wilson, Global Director of One Billion Rising.
Media release
2 March 2016
West Yorkshire Playhouse, in association with Southbank Centre, presents
THE FRUIT TRILOGY
By Eve Ensler
Directed by Mark Rosenblatt
World premiere staging at Southbank Centre’s WOW – Women Of The World Festival 9-13 March and West Yorkshire Playhouse 2-9 April
A limited allocation of press night tickets are available for Southbank Centre (Thu 10 March) and West Yorkshire Playhouse (Mon 6 April) – please contact Amanda.Trickett(at)wyp.org.uk for information
The world premiere staging of Eve Ensler’s THE FRUIT TRILOGY is presented at Southbank’s WOW- Women Of The World Festival from 9-13 March and West Yorkshire Playhouse from 2-9 April. This trio of short plays by the Tony Award winning author of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES and human rights activist comprises AVOCADO, POMEGRANATE and COCONUT and explores the female experience of human trafficking, sexual abuse, refugee life and body image. THE FRUIT TRILOGY is directed by Playhouse Associate Director Mark Rosenblatt who revisits AVOCADO, Eve’s commission for West Yorkshire Playhouse which premiered to critical acclaim in 2015, which forms a trilogy alongside her two new works.
Eve Ensler said
‘I am thrilled that The Fruit Trilogy will have its premiere at Southbank Centre’s WOW – Women of the World festival and West Yorkshire Playhouse in March and April. Both organisations have given platform and voice to the pressing issues of women today: trafficking, war, violence, and commodification. They are the perfect venues for these new plays and monologues where women are struggling with bodies sold, enslaved, violated and reclaimed.’
THE FRUIT TRILOGY is performed by Amelia Donkor and Carla Harrison-Hodge.
POMEGRANATE takes place on a regular working day in the life of a brothel, as seen through the eyes of two women. AVOCADO follows a young woman’s funny, shocking, poetic journey towards freedom. COCONUT sees a survivor, a woman, begins to enjoy the one thing she has never fully owned… her body.
Mark Rosenblatt said
‘We’re honoured to be working with Eve Ensler and the Southbank Centre, to premiere The Fruit Trilogy in London and Leeds. Eve’s playwriting and activism are inextricably linked and this new work asks us to confront some of the darkest of situations facing women around the world today, but always with a playful theatricality, humanity and humour. We always enter the situation through an unexpected angle and that’s really exciting to put on stage.’
Eve is appearing at Southbank Centre on Saturday 12 March and West Yorkshire Playhouse on Saturday 4 April. For WOW – Women Of The World Festival in partnership with One Billion Rising she leads panel discussion BODIES OF REVOLUTION. Eve opens the session on why and how women experience violence, militarization and war at the hands of the state and how they are rising collectively against it. Speakers include Christine Schuler Deschryver Director of Congo City of Joy, a revolutionary centre for survivors of rape and torture, Rada Boric from the Center for Women’s Studies in Zagreb, and Monique Wilson, Director of One Billion Rising and one of the Philippine’s veteran theatre and film actresses and founder of the New Voice Company (NVC) theatre group – one of Asia’s leading theatre companies known for radical work. IN CONVERSATION WITH EVE ENSLER takes place at West Yorkshire Playhouse prior to the first preview of The Fruit Trilogy in Leeds.
Eve Ensler is the Tony Award winning playwright, activist and author of the theatrical phenomenon, THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, which has been published in 48 languages and performed in over 140 countries. Eve’s plays include NECESSARY TARGETS, THE TREATMENT, THE GOOD BODY, and EMOTIONAL CREATURE. Her books include INSECURE AT LAST: A POLITICAL MEMOIR; the New York Times bestseller I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE, and her latest critically acclaimed memoir IN THE BODY OF THE WORLD. She is founder of V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against women and girls which has raised over 100 million dollars to end violence and One Billion Rising, a global mass action campaign in over 200 countries. Her play O.P.C. recently had its world premiere at American Repertory Theater where she will also debut and perform In IN THE BODY OF THE WORLD, based on her memoir in Spring of 2016, directed by Diane Paulus. AVOCADO opened to rave reviews at West Yorkshire Playhouse and Latitude festival in 2015. She has written numerous articles for The Guardian, Time Magazine, Washington Post and the International Herald Tribune. She was named one of Newsweek’s “150 Women Who Changed the World” and The Guardian’s “100 Most Influential Women.”
Mark Rosenblatt directed AVOCADO to critical acclaim when it premiered in 2015 as part of the Playhouse’s A PLAY, A PIE AND A PINT commissions of new plays and was performed at the Latitude Festival. His productions for West Yorkshire Playhouse include RICHARD III,
OF MICE AND MEN, the regional premiere of Alan Bennett’s UNTOLD STORIES and Samuel Adamson’s contemporary version of UNCLE VANYA. Before joining the Playhouse he was Studio Associate at the National Theatre (2011-13) and has run Dumbfounded Theatre since 2001. Other directing work includes Jack Thorne’s STUART: A LIFE BACKWARDS for Hightide Festival Theatre, Watford Palace & Sheffield Theatres (nominated for Carol Tambor Award Best Production of Edinburgh Festival 2013); WILD OATS, which reopened Bristol Old Vic in 2012; Shakespeare & Fletcher’s HENRY VIII and the world premiere of Jack Shepherd’s HOLDING FIRE!, both at Shakespeare’s Globe. In 2010, he directed the premiere of Eve Ensler’s short play MANGO at the Tricycle Theatre. He won the JMK Young Directors Award in 1999.
-ends-
For more information, to arrange interviews or for images please contact Amanda Trickett on amanda.trickett(at)wyp.org.uk 0113 213 7273 or Naomi French Naomi.French(at)southbankcentre.co.uk 0207 921 0678
EDITORS’ NOTES
Southbank Centre
The Fruit Trilogy
Wednesday 9 – Sunday 13 March
Performances: Wed – Fri 7.30pm; Sat & Sun 7pm
Tickets £15
Bodies Of Revolution
Saturday 12 March 2.15pm
Included in WOW Festival Saturday Pass £20 and Weekend Pass £45
To book tickets call 0844 875 0073 or visit wow.southbankcentre.co.uk
West Yorkshire Playhouse
The Fruit Trilogy
Saturday 4 – Saturday 9 April
Performances: 8pm
Tickets £15-£12.50
In Conversation with Eve Ensler
Saturday 4 April
Performances: 5pm
Tickets: £8 or £4 if purchased with a ticket for The Fruit Trilogy
To book tickets call 0113 213 7700 or visit www.wyp.org.uk
West Yorkshire Playhouse has a reputation both nationally and internationally as a leading UK producing theatre. The theatre is a cultural hub, a place where people gather to tell and share stories and to engage in world class theatre. From large scale spectacle to intimate performance the Playhouse develops and makes work for the stage, for found spaces, for touring, for schools and community venues. Alongside work for the stage the Playhouse is dedicated to providing creative engagement opportunities, building and running sustainable projects that reach out to a diverse range of communities. Supporting new and emerging artists is key and the theatre provides creative space for new writers, directors, companies and individual theatre makers to refine their practice.
For Spring Summer 2016 West Yorkshire Playhouse presents a new adaptation of GREAT EXPECTATIONS directed by Lucy Bailey; the world premiere staging of THE DAMNED UNITED adapted from David Peace’s novel, in a co-production with Red Ladder Theatre Company; Eve Ensler’s THE FRUIT TRILOGY in association with the Southbank Centre; OPENING SKINNER’S BOX, a co-production with Improbable and Northern Stage; a new production of KES which visits community venues across Leeds following its Playhouse staging; James Brining directs INTO THE WOODS, a co-production with Opera North and Alice Nutter writes BARNBOW CANARIES. The Playhouse’s critically acclaimed production of Maxine Peake’s debut play BERYL premieres in London and West Yorkshire Playhouse and Music & Lyrics co-production CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG tours to 18 UK venues on a year-long tour.
Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. For further information please visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk. We are carrying out vital restoration work on the Hayward Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room to make the buildings fit for future generations to enjoy, more information can be found here: letthelightin.southbankcentre.co.uk.
WOW – Women of the World Festival was launched by Southbank Centre Artistic Director Jude Kelly CBE in 2011, the centenary of International Women’s Day. It has since grown into the largest women’s festival network in the world, involving over a million people across five continents. Over the last five years, WOW has presented among many others, Nobel Peace Prize-winning Malala Yousafzai, Salma Hayek-Pinault, Alice Walker, Vivienne Westwood, Christine Lagarde, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown MP, Annie Lennox, Ruby Wax, Patrick Stewart, Sinead O’Connor, Jessye Norman, Julie Walters, Naomi Wolf, Nawal El Sadaawi, Cherie Blair, Kiran Bedi, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC and many women who don’t have public profiles but have done extraordinary things. Opening on International Women’s Day, the 6th London WOW festival will take place at Southbank Centre from 8th – 13th of March 2016. The festival will again feature a varied programme of concerts, performances, workshops and talks and debates, bringing together thousands of women and girls alongside activists, politicians, business leaders and artists to discuss gender equality and how women and men can drive solutions to close the gender gap. For more information please visit wow.southbankcentre.co.uk
One Billion Rising is the biggest mass action to end violence against women in human history. The campaign, launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, began as a call to action based on the staggering 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 express their outrage, strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women. On 14 February 2014, One Billion Rising for Justice focused on the issue of justice for all survivors of gender violence, and highlighted the impunity that lives at the intersection of poverty, racism, war, the plunder of the environment, capitalism, imperialism, and patriarchy. This year, One Billion Rising’s global coordinators chose the theme of “Revolution” as an escalation of the demand for justice, and to build upon the massive efforts of communities worldwide that also looked at the roots and causes of violence as part of their call for justice. On (or around) 14 February 2015, millions of activists in over 200 countries gathered to Rise for REVOLUTION, to change the paradigm, demand accountability, justice and systemic CHANGE. The campaign was covered widely by media in all corners of world. Visit www.onebillionrising.org
Charon Asetoyer at The Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center asked that we share the news of “this new tool, What To Do When You Are Raped, an ABC Handbook for Native Girls, which is now available to assist Native women and girls in their struggle to address rape.” Download a PDF version available for online HERE or at http://www.nativeshop.org.
The ABC workbook is receiving widespread coverage –
Take Part – A Grim How-To Manual Steps In to Help Native American Women Where the Government Won’t
Huffington Post – This Book Gives Native Girls The Tools To Seek Help After Getting Raped
Media Contact:
Charon Asetoyer
CEO, NAWHERC
(605) 491-1566
charon(at)charles-mix.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A Community Generated Response to a Systemic Sexual Assault Problem Facing Native Women
Lake Andes SD, February 22, 2016 – Today, The Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center (NAWHERC) published What To Do When You Are Raped, An ABC Handbook For Native Girls. This book is a resource aimed at answering the questions women face following a sexual assault, from thinking through buying emergency contraception, to getting tested for STDS, to who to turn to for support.
Native Americans are raped at a rate nearly double that any other race annually – 34.1 percent. More than 1 in 3 Native American women will be raped in their lifetime, and three-fourths have experienced some type of sexual assault in their lives. In an effort to help communities better respond, NAWHERC created this illustrated handbook with the assistance of Lucy Bonner, a Design and Technology graduate student and research assistant at PETLab at Parsons School of Design. The project was funded by the Ms. Foundation for Women.
Charon Asetoyer (Comanche), CEO of NAWHERC explained “Due to complicated issues related to jurisdiction most often there is not an arrest made of the perpetrator. Therefore, Native American women are denied protection and due process of the law. On federal lands it is the responsibility of the federal government to handle these crimes. We can no longer wait for the government to decide if and when they are going to live up to their responsibility. As a community response, one of the things we can do is assist our relatives who have been harmed and to help them with the healing process. It is important for a person that has been sexually assaulted to know that they are not alone and that there is always somewhere to turn to for help. The sooner you tell someone what has happened to you the sooner you will begin to realize that you are not alone and that you have support in dealing with the assault.”
The NAWHERC team will provide technical support and training on how to use this book to begin conversations about rape in communities across Indian Country. NAWHERC plans to disseminate this book to women’s shelters, Native community centers, schools, and youth groups in an effort to share information in both urban and reservation based communities.
Upon reading the handbook Bonnie Clairmont, Victim Advocacy Program Specialist at the Tribal Law and Policy Center, said “[This book] is a powerful tool designed to assist young Native girls who’ve been raped, who may be isolated, confused about their options and who may be struggling to make good choices about their health and wellbeing. This tool is about communities taking back their power to inform, empower and support young Native women and girls who are often caught up in the distressing aftermath of experiencing one of the most horrific crimes that anyone can experience. In contemporary times, Indian people may not be familiar with resources or are too uncomfortable to talk about rape due to years of colonization and the boarding school trauma where our ancestors were abused, silenced and shamed about their sexuality. It is time to reclaim our voices and to talk about these critical issues that are affecting too many of our young women and girls. The Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center has done just that.”
This new tool, What To Do When You Are Raped, an ABC Handbook for Native Girls, is now available to assist Native women and girls in their struggle to address rape. Bulk orders and hard copies may be purchased through NAWHERC, and a PDF version is also available for free download online here: http://forwomen.org/resources/an-abc-handbook-for-native-girls/
About NAWHERC
The Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center (NAWHERC) is a project of The Native American Community Board (NACB), a (501)(c)(3) organization incorporated in 1985 by a concerned and well-informed group of Native Americans living on or near the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. In addition to advocating for sexual assault standards and emergency contraception, NAWHERC also focuses on community engagement and education, cultural programming, food assistance as well running both a local women’s shelter and coordinating transitional housing for survivors. All of the NAWHERC health reports are available for free download and distribution at www.nativeshop.org.
#VaginasUnite
V-Day Stands in Solidarity with the Organizers of The Vagina Monologues in Ocala, Florida
Join Us and Stand Up Against Censorship
V-Day stands in solidarity with the organizers, activists, and performers of two upcoming productions, “The Vagina Monologues” and “The Marion At Midnight Burlesque Show”, whose artistic expression and freedom of speech are currently under attack.
According to reports, an Ocala, FL man has declared The Vagina Monologues “inappropriate” and has asked for a hearing before the Ocala, Florida City Council to have the play banned from a city supported theater.
Since 1998, “The Vagina Monologues” has been performed ten of thousands of times in over 140 countries. Written by Tony Award winning playwright Eve Ensler, it launched V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls. V-Day organizers have raised consciousness, changed laws to protect women and girls, funded rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters (often times these much needed funds kept them from closing), educated their communities, and raised over $100 million in urgently needed funds for groups doing the essential work of ending violence and serving survivors and their families.
Upon hearing of the upcoming City Council hearing, we took a look back at other attempts to censor Vaginas. With fierce resistance and leadership by local women and the ensuing media conversation and community dialogue, attempts to censor the word ultimately fail.
Stay strong Ocala Vaginas! We have your back!
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
#VaginasUnite: SIGN the petition in support of the Ocala V-Day benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues – http://www.thepetitionsite.com/695/662/864/keep-the-vagina-monologues-and-marion-at-midnight-in-the-spotlight/
If you are in the area, attend the local hearing and peaceful protest:
https://www.facebook.com/events/916175571813781/
Tweet and Facebook your support, here are some sample posts:
#VaginasUnite! FL man wants to censor #TheVaginaMonologues. Sign the petition in support of #FreeSpeechVaginas http://ow.ly/YLfyK
#VaginasUnite! A man in Ocala, FL wants to censor “The Vagina Monologues” by shutting down an upcoming benefit production. Sign the petition in support of artistic expression and #FreeSpeechVaginas http://ow.ly/YLfyK
HISTORY:
Take a look back at other moments when Vaginas were censored – when local activists prevailed and we stood as a movement in solidarity and together brought the world’s attention to the issue.
Michigan State Representative Lisa Brown Banned from publicly speaking in the House for using the word “vagina” during a debate on a bill that puts new restrictions on abortion providers.
– Vaginas Take Back the Capitol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwjgmCS3hYM
– NPR reports: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/06/17/155220749/silenced-michigan-state-rep-to-perform-vagina-monologues-on-capitol-steps
Students at John Jay High School Suspended for Reading from The Vagina Monologues: http://www.today.com/id/17535427/ns/today-today_news/t/students-vagina-suspensions-unwarranted/#.Vs9h0ymkT19
