Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler (b. May 25 1953 in New York) is an American playwright, performer, feminist and activist, best known for her play "The Vagina Monologues.

Personal life

Ensler graduated from Middlebury College in 1975. She married Richard McDermott in 1978, and divorced ten years later. She is the adoptive mother of actor Dylan McDermott, whom she adopted when he was 18 and she was 26.

The Vagina Monologues

"The Vagina Monologues" was written in 1996. First performed in the basement of the Cornelia Street Café in Greenwich Village, "The Vagina Monologues" has been translated into 45 different languages and performed in over 119 countries. Celebrities who have starred in the play include: Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Idina Menzel, Glenn Close, Susan Sarandon Marin Mazzie and Oprah Winfrey. Ensler was awarded the Obie Award in 1996 for ‘Best New Play’ and in 1999 was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship Award in Playwriting. She has also received the Berrilla-Kerr Award for Playwriting, the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, and the Jury Award for Theater at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.

Recent works

Ensler has been involved in several films and has appeared on television on "Real Time with Bill Maher" (August 26, 2005) and "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry" (August 12, 2005).

From October 2005 to April 2006, Ensler toured twenty North American cities with her play "The Good Body", following engagements on Broadway, at ACT in San Francisco, and in a workshop production at Seattle Repertory Theatre. "The Good Body" addresses why women of many cultures and backgrounds perceive pressure to change the way they look in order to be accepted in the eyes of society.

Ensler's play, "The Treatment" debuted on September 12, 2006, at the Culture Project in New York City. This play explores the moral and psychological trauma that are the result of participation in military conflicts. It stars her adoptive son, Dylan McDermott.

Her latest work is the book "Insecure At Last: Losing It In Our Security-Obsessed World" (Villard; Hardcover; October 3,2006). In "Insecure At Last", Ensler gives us her first work written exclusively for the printed page. "Insecure At Last" explores how people live today, the measures people take to keep themselves safe, and how people can experience freedom by letting go of the deceptive notion of "protection."

Activism

Ensler is a prominent anti-violence activist. In 1998, her experience performing "The Vagina Monologues" inspired her to create V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day raises funds and awareness through annual benefit productions of "The Vagina Monologues". In 2008, more than 4000 V-Day events are taking place in 1250 locations in the U.S. and around the world. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $60 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, launched the Karama program in the Middle East, reopened shelters, and funded over 5,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. The 'V' in V-Day stands for Vagina,and stopping Violence against Vaginas.

In February 2004, Ensler, alongside Sally Field, Jane Fonda and Christine Lahti, protested to have the Mexican government re-investigate the slayings of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juárez, a city along the Texas border.

Ensler is a very close supporter of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) and went to Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. She supports Afghani women and has organized many programs for them. She organized one event named the "Afghani Women's Summit For Democracy".

Ensler has led a writing group since 1998 at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, which was portrayed in "What I Want My Words To Do To You."

Awards and Honors

She has received numerous awards for her artistic and anti-violence work.

Awards and Honors (Select):
*"Obie Award for THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, 1997"
*"Guggenheim Fellowship Award in Playwriting, 1999"
*"Berrilla-Kerr Award for Playwriting, 2000"
*"Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, 2001"
*"Amnesty International Media Spotlight Award for Leadership, 2002"
*"The Matrix Award, 2002"
*"Jury Award for Theater at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, 2002"
*"Lion of Judah by the [United Jewish Communities, 2002. [http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=128786] [http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=61026]
*"Sundance Film Festival’s" Freedom Of Expression" award for WHAT I WANT MY WORDS TO DO TO YOU, 2003"
*"Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from her alma mater, Middlebury College, 2003"
*"NETC Theater Award a regional Boston theatre award, 2004"
*"NOW Award from the Intrepid Award Gala, 2004"
*"The Civil Revolutionary Award from Miami Dade College, 2004"
*"Award for International Peace Efforts from Cardozo Law School, 2004"
*"The Avon Award, 2005"
*"The Sandra Day O’Connor Award from The Arizona Foundation for Women in Phoenix, 2005"
*"Honorary Doctor of Human Letters from Manhattanville College, 2005"
*"Honorary Doctor of Communications from Simmons College, 2006"
*"City of New York Proclamation in honor of founding and her work for V-Day, 2006"
*"OK2BU Humanitarian Award In recognition of outstanding contributions to the LGBT community, 2006"
* Ms. Ensler has also been honored for her effort to end violence against women and girls by such organizations as Planned Parenthood (2004, 2006), The Women’s Prison Association (2004), Sahkti (2004), and several LGBT centers (2004,2006).

Criticism

The Vagina Monologues includes a section entitled "The Little Coochie Snorcher that Could". This portion of the play, as originally performed, has been criticized for including a lesbian "rape" scene of a 13-year-old girl by a 24-year-old woman who uses alcohol to lower the inhibitions of her victim. [http://www.zetetics.com/mac/ifeminists/2002/0212.html] At the conclusion of the segment, the narrator (the grown-up thirteen year old girl) fondly reminisces about the rape, claiming that it helped to nurture her and help her grow as a woman, and finishes the play with the line, "If it was rape, it was good rape". The segment received criticism not only for depicting any rape as "good", but also for forming a double standard, as elsewhere in the play, male-on-female rape is depicted as not only inexcusable but the ultimate act of violence against women.

The scene was modified in later performances; the young girl's age was changed to 16, and the "good rape" line was omitted.

Selected works

Plays
*"Conviction"
*"Lemonade"
*"The Depot"
*"Floating Rhoda"
*"The Glue Man"
*"Extraordinary Measures"
*"The Vagina Monologues"
*"The Good Body"
*"Necessary Targets"
*"The Treatment"

Books
*"Insecure at Last: Losing It in Our Security Obsessed World"
*"The Good Body"
*"Necessary Targets"
*"I Am An Emotional Creature"
*"Vagina Warriors"
*"A Memory, A Monologue, a Rant and A Prayer"

Films
*"Until the Violence Stops" (2004)
*"What I Want My Words to Do to You: Voices From Inside a Women's Maximum Security Prison" (2003)
*"The Vagina Monologues" (2002)
*"Fear No More: Stop Violence Against Women" (2002) - interviewee

External links

* [http://www.vday.org/contents/vday/aboutvday/eveensler Eve Ensler biography] via V-Day
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0258127/ Eve Ensler] via Internet Movie Database
* [http://afghanwomensmission.org/media/audio/2006-10-07/Ensler.mp3 Eve Ensler's Speech on Oct.7, 2006 in Los Angeles (Audio)]
* [http://www.rawa.org/eve.htm Eve Ensler: "Afghanistan is everywhere"]
* Pamela Grossman (April 19, 2000). [http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2000/04/19/vagina/index.html Down the Vagina Trail.] "Salon.com"
* [http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=e_ensler Video] of Eve Ensler performing an excerpt from her play "The Vagina Monologues." Presented February 2004 at the TED Conference in Monterey, CA. Duration: 21:11
* [http://www.americantheatrewing.org/downstagecenter/detail/eve_ensler Eve Ensler] - "Downstage Center" interview at American Theatre Wing.org, October 2006
* [http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1541053,00.html Eve Ensler Q&A] "Eve Ensler on "good" bodies and bad politics -Mother Jones [http://www.motherjones.com/arts/qa/2004/11/11_100.html]
* [http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=400 Eve Ensler talks about her latest book "Insecure at Last: Losing It in Our Security-Obsessed World"] , October 10, 2006 (video)
* [http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/americasbest/TIME/society.culture/pro.eensler.html/ CNN-Time magazine series "America's Best" profiles Ensler. September 2001.]
* [http://www.glamour.com/news/articles/2007/08/reallifedrama/ Ensler's September 2007 article in Glamour magazine]
* [http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/15/on_tenth_anniversary_of_v_day Eve Ensler on V-Day's 10th Anniversary on Democracy Now February 15, 2008]
* [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article3744635.ece The Vagina Monologues Turns Ten] , The Times, April 15, 2008
* [http://www.alternet.org/story/83437/ Victory Over Violence - For Women and Men - Alternet April 25, 2008]
* [http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/story/story.bsp?sid=85982&var=story V To The 10th! - Fundraising Success - January, 01, 2008]
* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/drill-drill-drill_b_124829.html Eve Ensler on Sarah Palin - September 8, 2008]