A long-time Lincoln Land tradition of performing the Vagina Monologues will be moving to a larger, community venue downtown this year.

The hope is that more people will be able to attend and community participation will rise from the move, said Brenda Protz, a Lincoln Land speech professor.

The play is “probably the most important piece of political theater of the last decade,” according to The New York Times.

One in three women will experience physical or sexual assault in her lifetime. The Vagina Monologues, coming to the Hoogland Center for the Arts on Feb. 22 and 23, was written in hopes to help decrease those numbers.

Playwright and women’s activist, Eve Ensler wrote the monologues in 1994 after interviewing more than 200 women globally. She has tailored the play yearly to reflect the issues women face, including the struggles of being a transgender woman.

The highly praised play first came to LLCC campus in 2005, when english professor Deborah Brothers oversaw a student production. Brothers continued to direct or oversee the direction of the Vagina Monologues annually through 2018.

For her, and many others, Dr. Brothers said the play was “almost therapeutic.” It provided an outlet for survivors, a means to express their own experiences while advocating for women whose voices went unheard for too long.

Several community members have agreed to share their own experiences in the upcoming production. Along with the addition of all new monologues, the audience will hear personal monologues from women around the world, voiced by local talent. Many of the cast members are present or former LLCC students, including Amanda Ensley, who admits to having been a little shocked when she first encountered the book version.

Ensley worked the ticket table at the Trutter Center production in 2008, where she was able to hear the play in its entirety. Since then, she has been a cast member in six productions.

“Every single word spoke directly to my heart. It brought me joy, laughter, tears, and above all respect for other women,” she said.

Protz first heard of the play in 2007 while heading the journalism department here at LLCC and knew right away that she wanted to participate. She became a cast member in 2011 and has been enthralled since. Protz hopes to bring the play to a larger audience “by taking it out of the college and into the community.”

The decision is dual-purposed: More people will have the opportunity to become a part of the movement, and more funds will be raised.  Prairie Center Against Sexual Assault will receive 90 percent of the proceeds to aid men and women as well as children in crisis.

LLCC students are encouraged to attend.

Tickets are available now for $10. Day-of tickets will be $15. Doors open at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22 and Saturday, Feb. 23. Preshow entertainment begins at 7:15 p.m. with the play starting at 8 p.m.

Rosanna Cravens can be reached at [email protected].