Last modified: Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Tony Award-winning Eve Ensler, author of 'Vagina Monologues,' to speak at IU Auditorium
WHAT: Eve Ensler
WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday, April 25
WHERE: IU Auditorium, 1211 E. Seventh St. in Bloomington.
TICKETS: Non-ticketed, free and open to the public
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2013
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Author, activist and Tony Award-winning playwright Eve Ensler will visit Indiana University's Bloomington campus next month, where she will interact with students from various departments and give a public lecture at 7 p.m. April 25 at IU Auditorium.
Ensler's lecture is free and open to the public, and tickets are not required. Her visit is part of the Ralph L. Collins Memorial Lecture Series, presented by the Department of Theatre and Drama in partnership with IU Auditorium.
"We are thrilled to welcome Eve Ensler to the IU campus," Department of Theatre and Drama chair Jonathan Michaelsen said. "In choosing her to be the 2013 Ralph Collins Lecturer, we are committed not only to providing theater and drama students the opportunity to interact and learn from an outstanding playwright, but also Ensler will have much to offer many other disciplines at IU. Her record of social activism is remarkable, and she is internationally known for her work. She will also speak meaningfully to many in the Bloomington community, making this a wonderful town and gown event."
Following her lecture, Ensler will participate in a 60-minute meet-and-greet and book signing opportunity in recognition of her upcoming publication "In the Body of the World: A Memoir," set for widespread release April 30. Audience members will be able to purchase the book before it is released to the general public.
Ensler's best known work, "The Vagina Monologues," has been translated into more than 48 languages and performed in more than 140 countries, including sold-out runs at both Off-Broadway's Westside Theater and London's West End, and has run for 10 years in Mexico City and Paris.
Her experience performing "The Vagina Monologues" inspired her to create V-Day, a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls, which raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of her award-winning play and other artistic works. To date, the V-Day movement has raised more than $90 million and educated millions.
As an activist, Ensler has devoted her life to stopping violence, envisioning a planet in which women and girls will be free to thrive. V-Day's newest campaign, One Billion Rising, launched in February 2012 and culminated in a day of action on V-Day's 15th anniversary, Feb. 14, 2013, when V-Day activists all over the world took to the streets to "strike, dance and rise" to end violence against women and girls.
Ensler is the author of the New York Times bestselling nonfiction book "I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World," as well as the political memoir "Insecure at Last." She co-edited "A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer," an anthology of writings about violence against women. Ensler is also the author of numerous plays and has contributed to many publications, including The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post and the International Herald Tribune.
Her awards include the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship in playwriting and an Obie, in addition to a number of honorary degrees. She was named one of U.S. News & World Report's "Best Leaders" in association with the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School and was named one of "125 Women Who Changed Our World" by Good Housekeeping magazine in 2010. In 2011, she was named one of Newsweek's "150 Women Who Changed the World" and The Guardian's "100 Most Influential Women."
"We are proud to partner with the School of Theatre and Drama to present such an important voice in the fight for women's rights worldwide," IU Auditorium director Doug Booher said. "Ms. Ensler's role as a playwright, artist and activist has been uniquely influential, and we look forward to sharing her experiences and insights with our students and the Bloomington community."
Ralph L. Collins Memorial Lecture Series
Ralph L. Collins (1907-1963) was born in Eclectic, Ala. He was educated at the University of the South, where he earned a B.A. in 1928, and at Yale University, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1933. Before joining the Department of English at Indiana University in 1935, he did editorial work for Atlantic Monthly and taught one year at the University of Tennessee. At Indiana, he served as varsity tennis coach from 1940 to 1945 and as director of the Writers' Conference from 1941 to 1948. He was named assistant dean of faculties in 1948 and vice president and dean of faculties in 1959.
As a teacher and scholar, Collins was principally interested in the area of theater and drama and published articles in the area of theater and drama, including many in Modern Language Notes, Philosophical Quarterly, Theatre Annual and University of Kansas Review. For many years he taught undergraduate courses in modern drama and in Shakespeare and a graduate seminar on George Bernard Shaw.
