Domestic-Violence Victims Again to Benefit From 'Monologues'

"It's the same monologues, but not the same show."

So promises Kevin A. Hickman, a physician assistant major at Pennsylvania College of Technology and director of this year's reprise of "The Vagina Monologues," to be presented at 7:30 p.m. March 1-3 at the Community Arts Center in downtown Williamsport. Musician Mallory Scoppa will be the opening act at 7 each night.

Tickets for the Penn College/Lycoming College production are $5 for students, faculty and staff, and $10 for the public. All proceeds benefit the YWCA's CASA of Lycoming County and Wise Options. Tickets are available at the Bush Campus Center information desk on Penn College's campus or at the Arts Center box office, 220 W. Fourth St.

"This is a win-win-win-win project," said Carolyn Strickland, director of student life at Penn College. "It is student-initiated, jointly produced by two local colleges and is being presented at the Community Arts Center, which supports our College Town initiative. Proceeds will be used to support two very worthwhile community agencies, and we are raising awareness of domestic violence issues in the process."

The 2006 production of Eve Ensler's play, also directed by Hickman and held in Penn College's Klump Academic Center, collected more than $2,000 for Wise Options. This year's performances again are part of V-Day, the global campaign to increase knowledge and funding to fight abuse against women and children.

But Hickman says the similarity ends there.

His cast of 18 comprising students from both colleges, as well as an employee of Wise Options this year will inhabit a talk-show milieu.

"It's not a typical staging of the show," the director explained, but rather a re-imagining born of his appreciation for ABC's "The View" and its cast of diverse personalities that "speak their minds completely." Even those cast members returning from last year are performing different monologues this time around.

In conjunction with this year's production of "The Vagina Monologues," Wise Options is sponsoring a "Girls Night Out" event for guests 21 and older, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. March 3 in the Arts Center Patrons Lounge. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Prices include reserved seating for the production, raffle ticket, a complimentary beverage and "finger foods." Tickets are limited, and can be purchased at the CC information desk or the Arts Center box office.

More information is available from the Student Activities Office.