HOLIDAY ALTERNATIVE

Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts joins the 15th anniversary celebration of Eve Ensler’s VDAY Campaign by presenting a special gathering on the front lawn of 40 Stow Street followed by a staged reading of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES. Join One Billion Rising, as people gather around the globe on Valentine's Day to call for women's (and men's) rights to live without abuse and violence. Show the world that violence against women and girls is a central issue of our time and will no longer be tolerated. A gathering will take place on the front lawn of Emerson Umbrella, where people of all shapes and sizes can dance, chant, move and raise their voice. Tony Fisher, Ministerial Intern at First Parish Church, will be on hand to help speak out and send the message that this movement is an unstoppable global force. THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, an Obie Award Winner, introduces a wildly divergent gathering of female voices, including a six-year-old girl, a septuagenarian New Yorker, a vagina workshop participant, a woman who witnesses the birth of her granddaughter, a Bosnian survivor of rape, and a feminist happy to have found a man who "liked to look at it." THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES have been performed thousands of times around the country and the world and, now, here in Concord! Front lawn gathering will begin at 5 p.m. with the staged reading starting at 6:30 p.m. in the Emerson Umbrella Theater. Suggested donation of $10 with a portion going to The Concord Network for Women’s Lives. To learn more about VDAY and One Billion Rising, visit www.onebillionrising.org or www.vday.org.