TPAC’s free programs compliment tour
For the TPAC engagement of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, the celebrated and provocative play that has become a phenomenon worldwide, Grammy Award-winning singer Kathy Mattea will share the stage with actresses Amy J. Carle and Michele Shay. In The Vagina Monologues, developed from interviews with more than 200 women, Ensler has given voice to a chorus of lusty, outrageous, poignant, brave, highly original and thoroughly human stories.
The first TPAC U program presented in conjunction with The Vagina Monologues is “Women’s Issues = Community Issues,” May 6 from 6 to 7 p.m. at Davis-Kidd Booksellers, 4007 Hillsboro Road. Discussion will be led by Linda G. Manning, Ph.D., director of the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center at Vanderbilt University, and Valerie Wynn, executive director and founder, Mary Parrish Center for Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence. Donna Cheek, chief executive officer of the Nashville YWCA, will serve as moderator.
“The Vagina Monologues is credited with spawning V-Day, a worldwide movement to combat violence against women,” said Bennett Tarleton, TPAC’s executive vice president for Institutional Advancement and the coordinator of TPAC U programs. “But violence against women, like many other issues raised in this ground breaking, eye-opening, riotously funny, sometimes shocking, and thoroughly human play, is not just a women’s issue. Women’s issues are in fact community issues. This discussion will explore several such issues.”
A second program on May 20, “Private Stories/Public Actions: Consider the Thistles,” will focus on Magdalene, the beneficiary of a portion of the ticket sales from The Vagina Monologues at TPAC. From noon to 1 p.m. at the Vanderbilt School of Nursing, 461 21st Avenue South (parking available in the Wesley Garage across the street).
Becca Stevens, founder and executive director, and two graduates of the Magdalene, will tell their stories and discuss the Nashville residential program which provides shelter, support services, and educational opportunities, for women who have a significant history of prostitution and chemical dependency.
Participants are invited to bring their lunch; beverages will be provided.
These TPAC U events are made possible in part by The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and the generous support of Joni Werthan.
For more information on TPAC U contact Allison Kieckhefer at 615/687-4291 or [email protected]. For more information on The Vagina Monologues, visit the web site www.tpac.org or call TPAC at 615/782-4077.