Aaron Berkowitz – General Assignment Reporter
Everyone came out to enjoy the final night of reading some enlightening, heartfelt, and touching monologues written by Eve Ensler, a famous playwright out of New York, to help break down some social barriers while gaining insight into the lives of others. Patricia Cruz, graduate assistant and president of Iota Iota Iota, organized the event, which finales Wednesday the 26, and said there will be a variety of monologues read that students can enjoy. “There are happy monologues and there are sad monologues,” said Cruz. “The sad ones talk about women who talk about their experience with sexual harassment or who have been raped and these are definitely issues that need to be addressed because of how common they are.”
Cruz said SCSU students must pay $5 entrance fee and non-students must pay $10 to be admitted, but all of the proceeds will go towards benefiting women in the community. Tickets can be purchased in room 213 in the Adanti Student Center Monday-Wednesday with a student’s hoot loot up until the event begins at 8 p.m.
The monologues that are going to be read are all written by Eve Ensler and Perez said she’s particularly fond of her work because of her attention to an array of different issues that women are faced with and can relate to.
“Not only does she address serious issues, but she also makes light of them at times,” said Perez. “I think it’s very important to educate everyone, not just girls, on the existing issues that women face in society.” Cruz said she doesn’t want people to get the impression that all of the monologues will be about heavy topics; she clarified that some of the monologues take a humorous approach that everyone can enjoy.
Kiera Blake, senior journalism major, said this is her first and last time participating in the event due to her graduation from the university but she feels the cause is especially important. “These monologues are important because they not only tell personal stories for others to relate but they’re told as they were from the people that they belong to without misrepresenting them or their truths,” said Blake. “Somebody’s story is being told with no filtering and they know they’re not alone.” Blake said she will be reciting a few of the monologues herself and also emphasized that men should attend as well.
She said she will be reading monologues that discuss a range of topics such as “pubic hair” and “transgendered women” that she hopes the people in the audience appreciate. “It’s always good to learn something new,” said Blake. “It can be the difference in understanding someone’s background or where they come from. I just want to make an impact on the people who just don’t know about the issues that we will be discussing.”
The event covers a wide range of social issues that are often overlooked and in order to properly address these issues people need to socialize, said Blake. “We ultimately want people to feel more sure of themselves and more comfortable having these talks about what some people would consider ‘uncomfortable’ topics,” said Blake. “We want to open the floor for that dialogue. If we ignore these issues they will never go away.”
