Empowered women unite in V-Day Manila

MANILA, Philippines - Now in its 12th year in the Philippines, V-Day Manila 2012, a benefit performance of the award-winning play The Vagina Monologues by Tony Award-winning playwright Eve Ensler goes on stage on March 31 at the Music Museum.

Produced by The New Voice Company, the show is raising funds for Lila Pilipina Philippine comfort women organization.

The special one-night performance features stage, screen and recording stars as well as acclaimed journalists and activists — all formidable women in their respective fields. Leading the list of empowered women are Boots Anson-Roa and Kuh Ledesma. Joining them is Monique Wilson, who has been performing and producing the play and organizing V-Day events in the country and around Asia for the last 12 years, and who was a special guest at V-Day’s 10th year anniversary show in New Orleans with other international stars.

Also in the cast are leading ladies of the Philippine stage such as Joy Virata, Pinky Amador, Tami Monsod, Juno Henares, Sheila Francisco, Roselyn Perez, Madeleine Nicolas, Gina Wilson and Mae Paner, as well as singers Cynthia Alexander, Leah Navarro and Aiza Sequerra. Also featured are rising theater actresses Angela Kanapi, Christine Carlos, Ampy Sietereales, Christine Escudero and Angela Padilla as well as NVC resident actresses Denise Bontogon, April Celmar, Rona Lou San Pedro and Nikki Ventosa. Other special guests include Bibeth Orteza, Ces Drilon, Dolly Anne Carvajal, women’s rights activists Anna Leah Sarabia, Edna Aquino, Rep. Emmi de Jesus and Rep. Liza Maza, OB-gynecologist Dr. Marlyn Ruaro and Gabriela’s cultural group Sining Lila.

The Vagina Monologues, based on interviews with over 200 women about their memories and experiences of sexuality, is a celebration of female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery. In this stunning phenomenon that has swept the world, Eve Ensler gives us real women’s stories of intimacy, vulnerability, and sexual discovery. Witty and irreverent, compassionate and wise, Ensler’s Obie Award-winning masterpiece gives voice to women’s deepest fantasies and fears, guaranteeing that no one sees the play will ever look at a woman’s body or think of sex, in quite the same way again.

The show is directed by New Voice Company artistic director Monique Wilson and associate director Rito Asilo, with Rossana Abueva as executive producer. Light design is by Mel Roxas and stage and production management by Teel Maramag, Lisa Santos and Bambi Gamban.

The Vagina Monologues  inspired a global activist movement, V-Day, to stop violence against women. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sex slavery.

In 2011, more than 6,000 V-Day events took place around the world. To date, the movement has raised over $80 million and reached over 300 million people. V-Day was first launched in Manila in 2001 and has been reaching communities all around the country since then. The play and V-Day have received sustained critical acclaim in the country and around Asia and the support of the biggest female stars and women leaders in the Philippines.

For tickets, call 896-6695, 899-0630 or e-mail newvoicecompany@gmail.com. Tickets are available at NVC, Ticketnet (891-9999) and the Music Museum (721-0635).