‘Vagina Monologues' put on in celebration of V-Day
Courtesy
Fourteen women will present parts of "The Vagina Monologues” beginning tonight.
ASUO Women's Center will
present three performances
starring an all-female cast
from UO and the community
By Natasha Chilingerian
Pulse Reporter
ASUO Women's Center will pres
ent the first of three showings of
"The Vagina Monologues" to cele
brate Valentine's Day, the protection
of women from violence and the fe
male anatomy. The first show com
mences tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the
Agate Auditorium, and it will run
through Saturday.
ine play, which was written by
Eve Ensler in the mid-1990s, is a se
ries of one-person acts dealing with
women's sexuality issues, from
menstruation to sexual assault. The
University's showing of "The Vagi
na Monologues" uses a portion of
the original script that was assigned
specifically for college performanc
es. The college version of "The Vagi
na Monologues" was created as a
response to high rape statistics on
campuses nationwide. Each year,
Ensler writes a new monologue for
campus productions, and this year's
new piece deals with women
in Iraq.
"Vagina" producer Guru Simrat
Khalsa said the show's topics
include orgasms, molestation, puberty
and rape She said attending the play
can have an empowering effect on
women.
"It brings up issues that women
don't talk about normally," she said.
"It makes them prouder of who they
are as women and encourages them
not to hide who they are."
Women's Center spokeswoman
Sarah Wells said the play blends seri
ous and humorous topics.
"Some topics are funny, like the
taboo of saying the word 'vagina,'" she
said. 'The show connects to a tragedy
level and also gets you to laugh."
ihe 14-member all-female cast of
University students and community
members range from 13 years old to
middle-aged. Actresses will dress in
red and black and perform against a
background of banners with minimal
props. Director Katie McClatchey said
the show draws audience members to
the actresses' emotions.
'The show is very physically active, *
she said. "The energy comes from the
actresses themselves."
The performance will be fol
lowed by an open mic where audi
ence members can voice their feel
ings about the show and share
their own stories about women's
sexuality issues. The Women's
Center will also host a raffle and
provide a large sheet of butcher
paper for attendees to sign during
and after the performance.
"The Vagina Monologues" is be
ing performed in conjunction with
V-Day, a global movement with the
goal of ending violence targeted to
ward women. Ensler and a group of
New York women founded V-Day in
1998 as an outgrowth from the suc
cess of the play; today V-Day spon
sors campaigns and programs that
work to stop such atrocities such as
rape, battery, incest, female genital
mutilation and slavery. The "V" in
V-Day stands for victory, valentine
and vagina.
Wells said the performance runs
on Valentine's Day weekend to em
phasize all forms of love. She added
the message of the production
places importance on loving your
self, which is just as crucial as having
love in a relationship.
Khalsa said by holding the show on
the holiday of love, people are re
minded not all relationships are full
of valentine bliss.
"Because the show is running
around Valentine's Day, it brings at
tention to the fact that a lot of rela
tionships don't have love," she said.
Wells said the show's focus is to
publicize the fight to end violence
and to give women the courage to
stand up for themselves.
"The message is that violence
Turn to VAGINA, page 12
Corman proves low-budget doesn’t mean low quality
riimmaKer Koger uorman
creates a memorable tale in
‘A Bucket of Blood’ despite
having few resources
By Ryan Nyburg
Senior Pulse Reporter
When people think of the most im
portant filmmakers of the 20th centu
ry, the name "Roger Corman" likely
_ does not
FORGOTTEN
FIL.IVIS
immediate
ly come to
mind. But,
filmogra
phy aside,
one would be stretched to find a man
who has done more to bring great tal
ent to American audiences.
Among those who have gotten
tneir start working tor Corman are
directors Martin Scorsese, Jonathan
Demme, Francis Ford Coppola and
actor Jack Nicholson. Corman's
record as a film distributor is equal
ly astounding. He was responsible
for bringing films by Ingmar
Bergman and Federico Fellini to
American audiences.
Corman was also one of the first in
dependent directors in America, pro
ducing products for a seedy cinema
underworld that consisted of the
drive-ins and urban grind houses of
the 1950s and 1960s. His work as a
director is interesting for just this rea
son. Working as cheaply as possible,
but also trying to make films good
enough to keep people in their seats,
Corman utilized every resource avail
able to him within his budget.
In this sense, his 1959 horror
comedy A Bucket of Blood" can be
taken as an exercise in economic film
making. The sets are minimal without
being fake-looking. The lighting and
other technical aspects of the film are
all stripped down, and there is not a
hint of extravagance during the film's
short 66 minutes. The camera work in
particular is so devoid of stylistic
flourishes that its lack of style be
comes a style in itself, stripping the
movie to its bare essence. Moving
along with this economic analysis, the
film works best on all the levels that
don't cost much money, i.e. scripting
and acting.
In short, the film is about Walter
Paisley — played by the great charac
ter actor Dick Miller, in his mcst sub
stantial lead role to date — who is a
busboy at a Greenwich Village coffee
house. He idolizes the poets and
artists who hang around the shop and
tries to make it as a sculptor. But his
attempts are in vain; at one point he
attempts to force the clay into being a
bust by begging it into shape ("Be a
nose!").
His luck improves when, after acci
dentally killing his landlady's cat, he
has a sudden burst of inspiration.
Spreading clay over the cat's body, he
passes it off as an original piece of art,
tided "Dead Cat," which is an imme
diate success among his beatnik
friends. Eventually, after a similar and
more severe accident, Walter presents
his next sculpture: "Murdered Man."
At this point the film moves into
something bordering on brilliance.
While at first it comes off as a light
satire of beatnik culture, it soon be
comes more vicious and profound.
Turn to BLOOD, page 12
Courtesy
Roger Corman’s 1959 horror-comedy “A
Bucket of Blood."
PULSE BRIEF
OSPIRG seeks
art show submissions
OSPIRG is calling for
submissions for its Save the
Willamette art show.
OSPIRG Campus Organizer Kit
Douglass said the upcoming show is a
spinoff of the organization's "Students
for a Clean Willamette" campaign.
"The idea is to generate a lot more
awareness that the Willamette
(River) is dirty, disgusting and pol
luted," she said.
Douglass said all forms of artwork
will be considered for the show, which
will run through the month of March
at three different galleries. Ihe Hearth
and Wilkinson Houses on campus and
the Jawbreaker Community Art Gallery,
located on the comer of West Fourth
Avenue and Monroe Street.
"It's a good opportunity for those
who just want to have some artwork
shown for free," she said.
Douglass said students' entries
should consider issues related to OS
PIRG's river campaign. Submissions
must be received by Feb. 20 and can
be dropped off at the OSPIRG office,
in Suite 1 of the EMU.
—Aaron Shakra
February 13th
See the Academy awards on the BIG Screen!
$10 Advance tickets on sale now! No-host beer &
wine-snacks-auctions-glamorous fun! See you there!
Proceeds go to Greenhill Humane Society and Womenspace
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE
Best Actress—Charlize Theron
GOLDEN GLOBE WINNER
Best Actress—CharlizeTheron
CHARLIZE THERON
CHRISTINA RICCI
I BASED ON A
k TRUE STORY
NSTERf
4:45,7:00 & 9:20 Nightly
Sat & Sun Mat 2:25
coming: TIBET: CRY OF THE SNOW SNOW LION
2 Academy Award Nominations
Best Animated Feature Film
Best Song ’The Triplets ol Belleville'
Triplets of
Belleville I
5:30,7:20 & 9:101
Sat & Sun Mat 2:00 & 3:45
BIJOU LATENITE Fr-Sat $5 Su $4
such and groouy! a spiritual experience!" latenite jazz!
miles davis: live in munich
Fri, Sat, & Sun 11:40 pm Next: princess bride
Stanley Kubrick's chilling classic— no
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
Next: ichi th£ killer Fri, Sat, & Sun 11:00 pm
coming:
FOG OF WAR
018165
Open
Mic
Thuisddys
<p'ZGJ!+
2841 «?
Willamette S
484-1727
Daniel Hege, Conductor
David Shifrin, Clarinet
The impeccable David Shifrin is a revelation on Nielsens
Clarinet Concerto. Then prepare to be swept away by
Schuberts Great C Major Symphony—big, beautiful,
radiant, ambitious.
Hult Center 682.5000 EMU Box Office
www.eugenesymphony.org m