“The Vagina Monologues” attracted a standing room audience during their run at DU last week, Feb 12, 13 and 14.

Parts of the show were different this year. While audience members slowly filled the theater, there was a live musical performance by Rachana Mukherjee, who played her guitar and sang. The songs included Sixpence None the Richer’s “There She Goes,” and Mukherjee’s original song “Surrender.”

The show began with a male feminist reading sections of a letter that was sent out over the DU listserv. The letter was a complaint about the annual performance of “The Vagina Monologues” on campus.

In the letter, the student author spoke about how he felt that the Monologues were comprised of childish complaining, and did not advance the women’s rights movement in any way. In one section of the letter, the author suggested that women learn to do tricks with their vaginas, so they would have something to brag about.

After the reading of the letter, the cast of the show stepped out onto the stage, which was set up with ladders, boxes and screens, which were used later in the show.

Most of the show’s standard acts were kept, including “Hair,” the “Say” and “Wear” lists, “I Was 12, My Mother Slapped Me” and the Vagina Facts.

One of the new acts in the show was titled “In Memory of Her Face.” This act centered around the stories of women from places including Kosovo and Juarez, Mexico. As the stories were told, they were acted out in shadow by members of the cast, who stood behind the screens that were part of the set. The act also included a performance of “Shadows,” an original song by Rachana Mukherjee, with vocal performances by members of the cast.

Another new part of the show was the “Vagina Warrior Statement” which was given at the end. The statement honored men and women who fight for women’s rights all over the world.

Following the statement was the presentation of 14 2004 DU Vagina Warriors.

In the lobby, pamphlets and information were available for the Undergraduate Women’s Studies department, Amnesty International, the Gateway Battered Women’s Shelter, and the DU chapter of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Cookies, milk and V-Day shirts were on sale in the lobby as well.

A voter registration sheet was included in the playbill in order to encourage people to get involved in both local and national politics.

Also in the playbill was a history of “Rosie the Riveter,” the icon from World War II that encouraged women to leave the house and go to work for their country.

Money from this year’s production went to A Gathering Place and Gateway Battered Women’s Shelter.

The theme of this year’s V-Day was “Afghanistan is Everywhere,” which focused particularly on the deaths and disappearances of over 300 girls and women in Juarez, Mexico over the past ten years.