We apologize to the good people of Saskatchewan; we’ve visited your lovely capital and you can’t help it if Regina has an anatomical ring to it.
Call us prudish. We just can’t bring ourselves to publish the actual name of this March 25 production in a headline on a family website. The same would go for references to certain male body parts.
However, that should not discourage you from seeing this version of Eve Ensler’s 1996 Off Broadway play at the Bickford Theatre in Morris Township on Friday. ( The Angina Monologues?)
Please click icon below for photo captions.
It features a cast of amateur actresses and is a benefit for New Jersey AIDS Services, formerly known as Morristown’s Eric Johnson House. The nonprofit organization provides transitional housing and support services for people living with HIV or AIDS.
We caught a rehearsal over the weekend. As the title suggests, the show is a series of monologues with adult themes of a feminine nature. Some monologues are hilarious. Others, describing genital mutilation and systematic wartime rape, are brutally explicit.
The play was chosen for its message condemning “violence against women. The AIDS community is so affected by that,” said Director Jill Zinckgraf, who works for another nonprofit agency in Morris County. “Men don’t experience the rate of violence that women do.”
“We are so excited to present this show to the community,” Laurie Litt-Robbins, CEO of New Jersey AIDS Services, said in a statement. “There is, unfortunately, a very strong correlation between violence against women and HIV infection. At NewJersey AIDS Services, over 80 percent of our female clients living with HIV/AIDS have experienced some form of violence in their lives.”
The nonprofit is presenting the show in association with V-Day:
V-Day is a global movement designed to focus the attention of a broader audience on the fight to end violence against women and girls which includes rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sexual slavery. The V-day campaign is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations, local volunteers and college students within their own community.
New Jersey AIDS Services also chose this theatrical fundraiser as a change of pace from walk-a-thons, Laurie said in an interview.
Admission is a suggested donation of $30; for $75 you get VIP seating and suggestive chocolates. Reservations can be made by emailing Rosanne Maglio at: r.maglio@njas-inc.org , or by visiting www.NJAS-Inc.org and clicking “Upcoming Events.”
