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>> >> The Vagina Monologues puts the V in Valentine's Day

By AMY BARRATT

 Say good-bye to Valentine's Day, a commercial holiday designed to make us feel crappy if we're not romantically involved, and guilty if we are.

 Say hello to V-Day, a three-year-old movement to reappropriate the 14th of February for a useful purpose: ending violence against women. You may not have heard much about it yet, but with the kind of American star-power behind this supposedly global movement, you will. The March issue of Marie Claire magazine features a smiling Claire Danes on the cover sporting a V-neck "V-Day: until the violence stops" T-Shirt. Need I say more?

 V-Day is intimately entwined with The Vagina Monologues, which premiered off-Broadway in '96 as a one-woman show starring the playwright Eve Ensler. Since February '98, the play has been the centrepiece of an annual benefit in New York City. This year on Feb. 10 at Madison Square Garden, over 70 celebrity women (Glenn Close, Julianna Margulies, Jane Fonda, Brooke Shields, Oprah!) will participate in what will surely be more of an "event" than a theatrical experience.

 Meanwhile though, theatre companies all over the continent, including hundreds on university campuses, will present less lavish versions of The Vagina Monologues. McGill University is one of only three Canadian universities to join in this college initiative program, with a three-night run Feb. 14-16.

 There has been hot buzz about the play in the city for several months thanks to a very successful Toronto production and rumours of a Canadian touring company which would eventually land in Montreal. The Toronto show, being revived beginning Feb. 13 at that city's New Yorker Theatre has become a star-magnet just like its New York counterpart. The production features a three-woman cast with rotating celebrity appearances. Sheila McCarthy and Jann Arden are confirmed for the new run. Sonja Smits, Gloria Reubens, Shirley Douglas, Chantal Kreviazuk and Mary Walsh have already been featured in the production. (You don't necessarily need to be an actress it seems. Musicians and media "personalities" are also welcome.)

 But what exactly is The Vagina Monologues? A phenomenon, to be sure, but is it really a good play? Many critics have fallen for its charms. The Los Angeles Times' "often hilarious, sometimes harrowing" seems to sum up the overall impressions.

 Ensler based the play on interviews with over 200 women and girls whom she somehow prompted to talk at great length about their vaginas. The stories the actresses relate range from tales of sexual awakening to gang rape. One monologue asks the burning question (no pun intended): if your vagina wore clothes, what would it wear?

 McGill student Alison Lemoine saw The Vagina Monologues on a trip to New York last year, "fell in love with it" and inquired on the spot into the possibility of getting the rights for a student production. She was directed to the V-Day Web site and the next thing she knew she was part of a global movement. Lemoine and Sophie Johnson co-direct the McGill production starring Sheryl Faith, Vanessa Guillen, Brianna O'Connor Hersey, Catherine McInnis, Greta Papageorgiu and Katy Pedersen. All proceeds from the run will be donated to Friendly Home, a women's shelter.

 The bad news is that all three performances are already sold out. However, you can still show up at the door on the night of the show and hope for rush seats. :

 The Vagina Monologues at McGill's Redpath Museum Lecture Hall, Feb 14-16, 8pm, $7-10, info: 286-2481