The Vagina Monologues

Since its debut in 1994, The Vagina Monologues has grown from its Off Broadway roots into the global activist movement V-Day, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center presents a new production of the play by V (formerly Eve Ensler), with segments in English and Spanish performed by 23 Dane County artists, activists and community leaders (find a list below). Sales of tickets and art (on display before and during the performance) will benefit Safe Harbor's legal fund to assist nonprofit clients dealing with immigration issues.

media release: Saturday, February 11, 2023 @ 7:30PM

Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center in Conjunction with One Billion Rising present A BILINGUAL PRODUCTION OF THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES

All proceeds benefit the Legal Fund for immigration issues for clients of Safe Harbor and other local nonprofits working with victims of violence. There will be an art exhibition and sale prior to, during and after the show. All presented art will be created in Vagina Workshops held in the months leading up to the show.

This is a General Admission – All Seated Show. Tickets: $25.00 Advance; VIP: $50.00 Advance. VIP includes early entry and preferred seating.

Participants include:

ALEJANDRA PRADO: Alejandra is a Mexican-American Community Interpreter. She is part of providing equality and resources for families and is passionate about her work in the Hispanic/Latinx community.

ALEXANDRA NIEVES REYES: Alexandra is a Puerto Rican woman, mother, wife, sister, public servant employee and community caretaker.

ANN IMIG: Ann is the founder of the national storytelling show LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER, and she now works as a life coach at Listen Life Coaching.com

CAITLIN PISTONO: Caitlin has a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice and she’s extremely passionate about social justice issues involving victims of intimate partner violence, homelessness and adults with disabilities. She is a Family Advocate at Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center, and she is a part of the BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ communities.

CARRIE POMIJE: Carrie is a social worker and is passionate about advocating for and defending the rights of people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.

DANA PELLEBON: Dana is a community activist that has been working against oppression in all forms throughout her adult life. She is the Executive Director of RCC Sexual Violence Resource Center in Dane County.

DEBIE EVANS: Debie is a board member at Safe Harbor. She has dedicated most of her life to behavioral and mental health work. She is excited for her first acting debut! In the daytime Debie serves as the clinic director at Anesis Therapy Center.

EUGENIA MARIA HIGHLAND GRANADOS: Born and raised in Mexico City, Eugenia is a Mama, a creative, a cook, and lover of her roots and Cultura. She has a BFA in Graphic Design from Mexico and a Masters in Life Sciences Communication from UW Madison. Eugenia is the Restorative Justice Program Director for the YWCA Madison and has been a Restorative Justice practitioner since 2011.  Since Eugenia migrated from Mexico to Madison in 2008, she has become an impassioned advocate for youth of color and joined the Restorative Justice movement as the medicine to disrupt cycles of systemic harm and violence and birth cycles of healing.

FANYA VALENCIA: Fanya is originally from Mexico City. She has been in Wisconsin for most of her life and enjoys teaching and working with communities of color in any way she can. She currently works for UNIDOS as a bilingual bisexual assault advocate.

FAYME FILIPIAK: Fayme has been a Spanish interpreter for almost 30 years, dedicating her career to giving a voice to those who might otherwise go unheard. She is the owner of language agency Midwest Connect Interpreters & Translators LLC.

GINA GOMEZ: Gina is a Wisconsin based Latinx artist and activist. She works with Madison students through a program called Whoopensocker that encourages creativity and collaboration through theater.

HEIDI I. FIGUEROA-VELEZ: Heidi is originally from Puerto Rico and for the past 18+ years have been working with Dane County's Latinx Community. She is a Bilingual Family Advocate & Forensic Interviewer at Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center.

JENNIFER GINSBURG: Jennifer is a social worker who has worked for 30 years with victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. She is the Executive Director of Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center.

JODI VANDEN MULEN: Jodi is a Madison poet and represents Wisconsin Humanities on the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission. She served as a poetry editor at The Progressive magazine, and is founder of the @Just1Haiku project, created in April 2020 to introduce the therapeutic effects of poetry to the general public during pandemic isolation.

KARMARIE MOYA FIGUEROA: Karmarie is a mom of two who has broken the social and cultural stigmas of teen parenting. She currently works as an Inclusion Specialist, focusing on breaking corporate norms and creating safe spaces for people to share their experiences.

MIKEL DOMNITZ: Mikel has been the Development Director at Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center for the past 4 1/2 years.  Years before that she was a Development Director in Planned Giving at the UW Foundation.  In between she dabbled in baking, cooking, restaurant work and child rearing with a little running thrown in.  She is thrilled to be a part of this production.

NANCY SAIZ: Nancy is a Chicana, wife, mother of 3, and a founding board member of the Kind Lesli Ann Ambassadors. Nancy is a Social Worker in the community and currently works for the City of Madison and Contracts with District Attorney’s Victim Witness Unit.

SHANNON BARRY: Shannon has been working in the field of violence prevention and intervention for more than 25 years, the last 16 as the Executive Director of DAIS (Domestic Abuse Intervention Services). It is an honor to be back on stage to support Safe Harbor’s immigration legal fund through this production.

SHIVA BIDAR: Shiva has dedicated her professional and personal life to social justice. She is the co-chair of the Latino Health Council of Dane County.

STEPHANIE MORENO: Stephanie Moreno is originally from Venezuela and has been working within the community for many years. As WRTP|BIG STEP’s South Central Regional Lead Coordinator for the Madison office, her team recruits and develops a qualified workforce in construction and manufacturing targeting women and people of color.

VERONICA DIAZ: Veronica is the first-born daughter to immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic. Violence against women is something that sets her heart on fire with rage, and rage gets things done. Her DREAM is to create a safe space to help educate and start important conversations with young women.

VERONICA FIGUEROA VELEZ: Verónica is originally from Isabela, Puerto Rico. She is a local artist and graphic designer in Madison. Veronica is the Executive Director of DAMA Inc and the Small business owner of MVF Art and Design. In addition, Veronica is a mother of two amazing daughters, a community advocate and activist.

YANNETTE FIGUEROA COLE: Over 30 years ago, she found a home and community in Madison when she arrived from Puerto Rico. Before being elected as Alder for District 10 in Madison’s West side, she had a leadership role serving as the Treasurer and later President of the Dunn's Marsh Neighborhood Association. She is an advocate for the unsheltered population and for demanding access to basic human rights.

In 1994, a play called The Vagina Monologues, written by playwright and activist V (formerly Eve Ensler), broke ground, offering to the world a piece of art like nothing it had seen before. Based on dozens of interviews V conducted with women, the play addressed women’s sexuality and the social stigma surrounding rape and abuse, creating a new conversation about and with women. The Vagina Monologues ran Off-Broadway for five years in New York and then toured the United States. After every performance, V found women waiting to share their own stories of survival, leading her to see that The Vagina Monologues could be more than a moving work of art on violence; she divined that the performances could be a mechanism for moving people to act to end violence. 

V-Day’s mission is simple. It demands that violence against all women, girls and the planet must end.