‘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