This weekend, Margaret Hashinger Hall Theater will play host to women discussing their vaginas.

Volunteers associated with the Commission on the Status of Women will perform “The Vagina Monologues,” written by Eve Ensler, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Proceeds from the show will go to organizations that provide services to women affected by domestic violence in Douglas County.

Lindsee Acton, Kansas City, Kan., senior and director of the show, said that an annual production of “The Vagina Monologues” had become a tradition at the University in previous years. This year the show, and in turn the fundraising, almost didn’t happen.

Acton said that graduate teaching assistants in the Women’s Sexuality and Gender Studies Department normally organized the performance to coincide with Women’s History Month, but this year there weren’t returning GTAs who were prepared to take on the responsibility.

“Usually, production starts in December and January,” Acton said. “That’s when we came down to the wire, and no one was planning it yet.”

At that time, Acton and Lisa Moore, Parsons senior and creative director, decided to take the responsibility upon themselves to organize the production. They spread the word about the show and auditions through signs posted around campus, Facebook groups and word of mouth. At the same time, they also prepared the lighting, constructed the set and prepared the rehearsal schedule.

“The Vagina Monologues” is a collection of monologues that are based on interviews with thousands of women from different walks of life concerning their vaginas and womanhood.

Though Acton said the subject matter of the show ranged from sad to empowering, some cast members thought the content of the show may be a bit too rough for certain members of their family. Cast members said reactions from their families ranged from disgust to overwhelming support.

“My family is fundamentally Catholic,” said Kiana Schneider, Atchison senior and performer of the monologue “My Angry Vagina.” “I tried to tell my mom I was in ‘The Vagina Monologues’ and she completely freaked out. She got nervous and said, ‘I don’t know why you’re in that,’ and she can’t even say the word vagina.”

Some of the actors thought the subjects explored in the show would have been especially difficult for their fathers to handle. Laura Kozak, Shawnee freshman and performer of “Reclaiming Cunt,” said that she didn’t ask her father to attend because she “didn’t know if he would approve of his daughter going up on stage and touching herself and screaming cunt in front of a bunch of people.”

While some of the actors were cautious about their fathers seeing the performance, they agreed that men can benefit from the messages in the show. Kozak said that typically men don’t hear a lot about women talking about their vaginas.

“It’s just not something a woman would go up to a man and have a fluid conversation about. I think that getting that kind of information in a conversational way shows that it’s OK to talk about this,” Kozak said. “I think the entire play really takes a lot of the mystery away from the concept of female genitalia. That is probably the best part about it. It’s not scary.”

Moore said that she asked her parents to attend the performance and that she thought her father could benefit from seeing the play.

“I think it will be educational for him,” Moore said. “My dad’s really conservative, but my family looked the show up and they know what it’s about and they’re excited for me. They know how much I’m for the empowerment of women. It’s going to be shocking, but even if they feel uncomfortable, these are still issues that women face.”

In addition to the crowd benefiting from the show, women’s shelters in Douglas County will benefit financially from the performance. Women’s Transitional Care Services will receive 45 percent of the funds raised from the show.

Acton said that the money will go into a WTCS fund that is used to financially support women who have been victims of domestic abuse. Acton said this particular fund provided help for victims of domestic abuse to pay their rent, put down payments on apartments and cover other financial needs. When Acton and Moore tried to decide which fund to donate to, they found that this particular branch of WTCS fund was underfunded, and as a result could only help a few women each year. They asked that their donation be placed directly into this fund to assist more women.

The actors said they were happy to help WTCS and have volunteered their time to participate in the show. Many of them had seen the show previously and found it exciting to portray roles that they enjoyed in previous performances at other theaters. Schneider said she saw the show before she became a part of the performance and was cast in her favorite role: the woman in “My Angry Vagina.”

“My scene is so true; there is a lot of weird stuff that people do like douching and — I don’t know — all of it’s ridiculous. I like that some of the monologues have a humorous side instead of just complaining.”

There will also be an art exhibit on display provided by WTCS. The exhibit is known as “The Clothesline Project” and provides survivors of domestic abuse and their family and friends with a way to tell their stories and begin the road to recovery. The project started with blank T-shirts being donated to women’s shelters across the country and given to survivors of domestic abuse. Survivors then used the shirts as a diary. The basic T-shirts were converted into works of art that showed the emotions of the victims in the form of pictures, messages and stories describing the victims’ experiences. The victims used the shirts as a cathartic art project that others, who may or may not have experiences with domestic abuse, can view. Some of these shirts are displayed around the country at events such as “The Vagina Monologues.”

“They are going to be displayed collectively and they can be a very powerful message,” Acton said. “One shirt in particular, it’s this yellow shirt that — I see it and I can’t look at it for very long, and it says, on the front of the shirt, ‘Momma I’m sorry that you had to die.’ It’s obviously from the child of a survivor, or rather, someone who didn’t survive.”

The shirts will be on display before and after the show.

While not everyone may agree with the subject matter of the show, the cast believes that they are doing something good for women in need in Douglas County.

“It makes me proud to be a women’s studies major,” Acton said. “It makes me proud to be a woman. It makes me proud to share with others, especially the folks who might not understand what it’s all about.”

­— Edited by Jessica Sain-Baird