Daejeon-based theater company U&i Productions will return to the stage this weekend with a charity performance of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.”
The monologues have been performed across 100 countries and in 40 different languages. “V-Day” performances of it and other plays are held across the world each spring in aid of women’s charities and to raise awareness about violence against women.
Kevin Manley, company manager of U&i Productions, said the group decided to perform the monologues after an audience member suggested it.
He said the group, which was founded last year, had not done a V-Day performance before, and was not aware of it ever having been performed in English in the city.
“We saw it as a good fit for our group’s goals (the integration of Koreans and expats through theater) and a good way to get involved with a local charity.”
Manley said that it was technically too late in the year to fit the official V-Day criteria, which allows exemption from paying for script rights for performances that help women’s charities.
But he said that although they had to pay the rights, they would still donate all profits from the production to the Salvation Army Daejeon Women’s Shelter for women escaping abusive relationships. There are currently about 20 women staying there, as well as 12 of their children, Manley said.
“Eve Ensler’s original vision for this play was to affect social change, and we think that working with the women’s shelter is a great chance to do that,” he said. “Complimentary tickets have been offered to the staff and residents for the performance, and we expect most, if not all, to attend.”
He said that the group was also raising donations through sales of chocolate vaginas, which he expected to exceed 1 million won ($810).
This will be U&i’s fifth performance, having previously hosted summer and winter showcases, and performed at the Daejeon University Theater Festival and Seoul Players’ 10 Minute Play Festival, in which it had two plays in the final.
Half of the proceeds from the Summer Showcase went to Daejeon Paws, an animal shelter in the city.
Its production of the “Vagina Monologues,” which will feature 12 performers, will run at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Daeheung-dong Community Center.
The performance will have subtitles in Korean and English. Tickets are available at http://www.uandiproductions.org.
By Paul Kerry (
paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)
