VDAY. LAGOS 2007. VAGINA MONOLOGUES.
The V-Day Theme for 2007 was Reclaiming Peace
Building on a successful first outing in 2006, KIND decided to stage the Vagina Monologues in Nigeria again in March 2007. Using a formula that had worked before, we engaged Ms. Joke Silva, renowned actress and producer, to produce the play, which was staged in Nigeria’s commercial centre, Lagos. Enough people were eager to see the play that 2 of the 3 performances sold out. At the end of the three performances staged in MUSON and Planet One, which started on the 14th of March and ended on the 21st, 2000 people had watched a festive rendition of the Vagina Monologues.
The production was far from being a re-run of last year’s. For one, this year’s play was directed by a vibrant Los Angeles trained director, Ifeoma Fafunwa who gave the play much more Nigerian flavour. Also, while most of the cast members of the play were the same, there were also new actresses like Rita Dominic, Kate Henshaw-Nutall and a special cameo appearance by Erelu Abiola Dosunmu. The new actresses were excited to join the campaign. According to Kate “the Vagina Monologues is a very interesting play, as it sheds light on issues that are related to the challenges women and girls go through. I watched last year’s shows, and I felt an urge to be part of the campaign. Being a part of this year’s campaign makes me particularly happy that I am part of a global call for better treatment of women and girls”. Rita added that ‘despite the fact that we live in a civilized world, there are still cases of rape, murder, female genital mutilation, maltreatment of widows among other problems in the society and there is a need for change.’
KIND and the production team would have gladly performed the play in other states and higher institutions in the country, but did not have enough funds for more performances. As with the previous year, finding sponsors willing to look beyond the word “Vagina” in the project’s title and consider its merits was difficult. Consequently, we were restricted to performing the play in Lagos unlike last year when it was performed in Abuja and Lagos.
However, what opportunity to raise awareness was lost through the reduction in the number of performances was partially gained because of the massive media publicity that the project secured. Information about the Vagina Monologues and the issue of violence against women was everywhere. In jingles and announcements on radio, several well placed newspaper interviews with the actresses and television publicity before, during and after the event. The media helped create a lot of awareness about the issue of violence against women.
And with the unprecedented publicity came public conversations about the play and the issues it raised. While most of the feedback was positive, there were the occasional criticisms. Here are some reactions:
“… A friend of mine who is a man said the play helped him understand how the minds of the women work better. It is like women have been saying these things for years but he only now understood from watching the play”.
–Omono Imobhio, actress.
“in the time I was there, I heard the word ‘vagina’ used more than I imagine would be allowed to be used in an x-rated movie, and certainly more times than I would ever want to hear in the next fifty years of my life…I left with a very clear message that we women had lost our relevance in society and all we had left was our vagina to flaunt as we should”
–Pearl, contributor Colours of Life’s column, This Day Newspaper, April 22, 2007
“The performance received an appreciative acceptance- even among male folks. In a society used to pretense, where discussions about sex are relegated to secluded corners or kept out of earshot, it was a radical production”.
–Guardian Newspaper, Wednesday, March 28, 2007.
At the end of 2007 V-Day campaign, we donated N400, 000, the proceeds from the performance, to Media Concern for Women and Children, a media-based not-for-profit organization in Lagos, which works primarily with rape victims.
KIND’s Future Work to End Violence against Women in Nigeria
Plans are already underway to ensure that 2008 will be the most successful year yet for the Monologues. Not only by enlisting more star actresses but by staging performances outside of Lagos and in institutions of higher learning.
Many women who saw the play felt that the Vagina Monologues represents every woman; their fantasies, their fears, their pain. They celebrated its freedom of expression because they feel that it is this freedom that has been systematically denied women in a male dominated world. Yet many wondered about whether we might not learn more about the issue of violence by listening to our own women share about their experiences as opposed to staging a play that gathered stories from around the world but filtered them through the ears, eyes and thoughts of Eve Ensler, the American playwright who authored the monologues.
Underlying these reservations, KIND heard a yearning among Nigerians, men and women, for an opportunity to listen to each other on the subject of violence, particularly sexual violence, which few people speak about. So working with peer organizations, KIND is developing a Nigeria version of the monologues that uses words of Nigerian women to communicate our experiences of various forms of violence as well as our stories, not just of survival, but also of triumph in building healthy, wholesome relationships.
Lastly, in 2008, efforts will be made to move the message of the play – that violence against women is a crime – into the halls of our state legislators so that conversations about violence against women begin to translate into laws to criminalize these acts.
Thank you for working with us. Until the violence stops!
Special Thanks to Our Donors: Cordaid, Habiba Balogun, Demola Abdulrahim, Dr. Nkem Momoh, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, Emzor Pharmaceuticals, Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue, Alima Atta, Mrs. Ngozi Are, Ms. Gloria Onafeko, Tolulope & Collins Lewis-Tamoka, Ebi Williams, Esohe Kadri, Ego Boyo, Ruff ‘n’ Tumble, Newton & Davies, Mrs. Alaere Alaibe, Fatima& Ademola Asuni, Alima Atta, Anonymous.
Photographs by Isaac Emokpai, graphic designs the 65th Book, cocktail provided by Brian Munro and Nerderburg Wines, rehearsal space provided by 10A Services, sound, light and set provided by Z-Mirage Multi- Media, Billboard printing by Prodoction Point, publicity coverage by Sesema PR, Planet One Entertainment, Jill Meridien Ventures, Kristaville, Muson Centre, The Palms Shopping Mall, Silverbird Group of Companies, Nu-Metro Media Stores, Bola Shobande, Joke Silva Dammy Oruwari, Ifeoma Fafunwa, Fatima Paturel, Jide Asuma, Kate Henshaw-Nutall, Olayinka Blackshear, Rita Dominic, Tola Adegbite , Tunde Oyekunle, Tolulope Adegbie
Some sponsors refused to be acknowledged publicly though they donated generously towards the staging of the play. Thank you to our anonymous donors!