'Vagina Monologues' Proceeds Donated to Charity

Soka University's fourth annual production of The Vagina Monologues ended with a standing ovation and a little over $1000 raised for charity.

Proceeds from the performances on April 16 and 17 will be donated to the V-Day 2011 Campaign: Women and Girls of Haiti and Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Relief Fund.

"We gave to this group because we felt that we wanted to support a women's group that was a part of the Orange County community, and one that perhaps was typically overlooked.  We felt that the issue of violence against women is a community issue and is therefore one that affects us all.  There is no such thing as discriminating between groups to donate to, given this kind of oppression," said sociology professor Ryan Caldwell, who was the faculty adviser for the play.

Written by playwright Eve Ensler in 1996, the play talks about sex from the perspectives of 200 women. The women of this year's rendition yelled and moaned as they told some of the sobering stories within the play.

"I was supposed to do the 'My Angry Vagina' part, but I got switched to the moaning part," said Astrid Dorantes. "It was totally out of my comfort zone,  but once I was on stage and got into character, it just came to me. At one point I thought 'Is my mom here?'"

Milly Tamarez, who performed the "Because He Liked to Look at It" monologue, said preparation for the play in the new performing arts center was tough.

"They were intense. Since we had the lights and working in the new center it made it tough," she said.

At one point during the performance, Agnes Conrad had the crowd roaring and reciting a word that is considered an insult to most women.

"It's an open-ended interpretation," she said. "It changes the meaning, it's to reclaim the word. I had to think of the word differently."