Niš Public Theatre was packed last Thursday, April 5th and, to organizers' great regret, too small to accept all those interested to see Vagina Monologues performed by actresses Ana Sofrenović and Katarina Gojković and supported by activists from our city.
As expected, the audience consisted mostly of women from different age groups – from high school pupils to senior citizens. After each monologue was read a powerful applause followed and some of the performances were interrupted by the crowd's cheer.
Additional exclusivity of this event was the presence of authoress herself – Eve Ensler who went to the stage after the performance had ended and thanked the present women and men who showed their commitment in fighting violence against women inviting them to gather and dance on February 14th 2013 in the streets, squares or their front yards and thus support the global campaign against violence over women – V-Days. She also stressed the fact that each third woman in the world suffers some form of violence which makes up over billion of women. This dance is certainly dedicated to them.
Along with Eve Ensler, Niš had an honor to welcome another guest to Vagina Monologues – Rada Borić, feminist linguist and activist, lecturer at the Centre for Women Studies in Zagreb and one of its co-founders and as of fall 2009 Center's executive director. At the press conference held previously that day, she spoke about recently performed Monologues by the European Parliament MPs in Brussels during the course of one session. Following this, the Act to prohibit violence against women was adopted.
- Art touches both heart and soul. There are no women or feminist organization in this world that have not organized the Monologues performance, stated Rada Borić.
This reading performance of Vagina Monologues was organized as an extra activity of the Festival of Women Activism and Art "FemiNiš" and with a solidaric support of the Sweden based organization Kvinna till Kvinna and the local support: Municipality of Palilula, Student Culture Centre and Public Theatre.
