Fri 3/14 @ 7:30pm
By Josh Usmani
It’s clear to anyone paying attention that the women of Northeast Ohio are remarkable assets to our region. From She Speaks to From WOMAN, local ladies are coming together around important issues. Their latest effort is A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, A Prayer, a benefit reading this Friday evening at The Miles and Nan Kennedy Community Center at Waterloo Arts in Collinwood.
For this special event, local women will read excerpts from A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, A Prayer — a collection of fictional and real stories by celebrities, renowned authors, playwrights, poets, journalists and more. In her introduction, the book’s editor, Eve Ensler, says “…Speaking about violence, telling the stories, because in the telling, we legitimize women’s experience. We reveal what is happening in the dark, in the basement, out of sight. In the telling, women take their power back. Their voice. Their remembering. Their future.” Ensler is better known as the author of The Vagina Monologues.
A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, A Prayer was originally commissioned by nonprofit organization V-Day in conjunction with “Until The Violence Stops” – a two-week event in New York City in 2006. V-Day was established on Valentine’s Day in 1998 to end violence against girls and women across the world. “For 15 years, V-Day activists globally have worked to end violence against women and girls through art and activism,” explains Susan Celia Swan, Executive Director at V-Day.
Friday’s reading will feature local women, and will benefit Cleveland’s Renee Jones Empowerment Center. Renee Jones began a weekly empowerment program at the Bishop Cosgrove Center in 1998. By 1999, she was celebrating 78 successful stories of locals transitioning from homelessness to independent self-sufficiency. With such remarkable results from one day per week, Jones began working to develop a full-time program in her own facility. In 2002, the Renee Jones Empowerment Center opened on W. 65th Street.
“This performance is a means to raise awareness about sexual violence, creating an open artistic space for dialogue, shattering taboos and raising funds for local anti-violence organizations like the Renee Jones Empowerment Center in Cleveland,” explains Carla Lovejoy, Co-Producer/Co-Director of the event. “This production will make people cry, laugh, and hopefully be inspired to rise up and speak up about violence against women.”
Participants include Alenka Banco, Interim Director of the Cleveland Arts Prize and owner of Convivium33 Gallery, and Yvonne Pointer, author, activist and member of the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame. Banco has said she will be reading something she wrote herself.
“I was inspired by everything I heard tonight. Some monologues were hilarious and some were a little scary because they reflected real-life stories of women who were victims of rape or some other horrific incident,” says Melissa Holland, a guest at last year’s event at Playhouse Square who will speak this year.
While all the essays are powerful, they span the spectrum of emotions and experiences from anger to humor and tragedy to beauty. As Ensler explains in her introduction, these readings are important for women to come together, support each other and build a stronger community.
Whether you’re male or female, you’re sure to be moved by these readings. Stop by Waterloo Arts this Friday to show your support and experience the power of these essays.
Josh Usmani is a 27 year old local artist, curator and writer. Since 2008, his work has been featured in over 50 local and regional exhibitions.