Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler's Obie Award Winning play, THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, translated into over 35 languages and running in theaters all over the world, including sold-out runs at both Off-Broadway's Westside Theater and on London's West End (2002 Olivier Award nomination, Best Entertainment), initiated V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. Ms. Ensler's performance in THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES can be seen on the DVD of the HBO original documentary of the play (2002).Her play NECESSARY TARGETS, set in a Bosnian refugee camp, opened Off-Broadway at the Variety Arts Theater in February 2002, after a hit run at Hartford Stage. Other plays include CONVICTION, LEMONADE, THE DEPOT, FLOATING RHODA AND THE GLUE MAN and EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES. THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES and NECESSARY TARGETS have both been published by Villard/Random House, as will Ms. Ensler's upcoming two new plays and books, THE GOOD BODY and I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE. Ms. Ensler has devoted her life to stopping violence, envisioning a planet in which women and girls will be free to thrive, rather than merely survive. Her work grows out of her own personal experiences with violence. THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES is based on Ensler's interviews with more than 200 women. The piece celebrates women's sexuality and strength, and exposes the violations that women endure throughout the world. V-Day originated out of Ms. Ensler's conversations with women who approached her after early performances of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, to tell her of their own experiences of violence. She began to use performances of the play to raise funds for organizations working to stop violence. Soon, she and the group of women who make up V-Day found that support for their efforts was far-reaching and expansive. What began as a simple possibility quickly transformed into a worldwide social and activist movement. Today, V-Day is a global movement that helps anti-violence organizations throughout the world continue and expand their core work on the ground, while drawing public attention to the larger fight to stop worldwide violence (including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), sexual slavery) against women and girls. V-Day exists for no other reason than to stop violence against women. In just six years, it has raised over $20 million and was named one of Worth magazine's "100 Best Charities" in 2001. V-Day stages large-scale benefits and produces innovative gatherings, films and programs to educate and change social attitudes towards violence against women. These include the 2004 documentary UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS; community briefings with Amnesty International on the missing and murdered women of Juarez, Mexico; the December 2002 V-Day delegation trip to Israel, Palestine, Egypt and Jordan; the Afghan Women's Summit; the Stop Rape Contest and the Indian Country Project. In 2004, more than 2000 V-Day benefit events - produced by local volunteer activists and performed in theaters, community centers, houses of worship, and college campuses – are taking place around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls and raising funds for local groups within their communities. Ms. Ensler is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship Award in Playwriting, the Berrilla-Kerr Award for Playwriting, the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and the Jury Award for Theater at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, as well as the 2002 Amnesty International Media Spotlight Award for Leadership and The Matrix Award (2002). She is Chair of the Women's Committee of PEN American Center and is an Executive Producer of WHAT I WANT MY WORDS TO DO TO YOU, a documentary about the writing group she has led since 1998 at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women. The film had its world premiere at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival where it received the "Freedom Of Expression" award and premiered nationally on PBS’s P.O.V. in December 2003. In May 2003, she received an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from her alma mater, Middlebury College.