PC discourages student production of controversial play

09:17 AM EST on Thursday, February 17, 2005

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

Providence College students are barred from advertising the play about women, and campus officials are largely silent on why.

Its title is meant to provoke, to lessen the shame often associated with the word, to reclaim women's bodies as something good and valued.

But The Vagina Monologues apparently is too shocking for administrators at Providence College, a small Catholic college run by Dominican friars.

This is the fourth year students have staged performances of the popular, Obie award-winning play during the month of February -- part of a national movement to raise awareness about violence against women on college campuses around Valentine's Day, or V-Day.

The play weaves stories from dozens of women from around the world who have been victims of rape, abuse, genital mutilation, sexual slavery and incest.

The students receive no money from PC to stage the production, and students design and pay for their own costumes. Proceeds from ticket sales go to nonprofit women's groups that run rape crisis centers and programs to prevent domestic violence.

But last year and again this year, PC administrators prohibited students from printing posters, hanging signs for casting calls or otherwise advertising the play, which began its run last night and continues with two performances tonight.

Officials stopped short of forbidding the play, but made their displeasure known.

Calling the play controversial and describing its language as vulgar, the college issued a statement in a PC newspaper, The Spectrum, in 2002, which administrators said yesterday still stands.

"It must be clear that the Administration neither supports the performance of the Monologues nor condones any material that sanctions or promotes behavior or lifestyles that are contrary to the mission statement of Providence College or the teachings of the Catholic Church," the statement reads.

When asked to clarify which behaviors or lifestyles are objectionable, Ed Caron, PC's vice president of college relations, said he was unable to elaborate.

Student organizers disagree with the administration's stance.

"The mission of the play is to spread awareness about sexual assault and to empower women," said junior Erica Rioux, who has participated in the event for the past three years. "To me, as a Catholic and as someone who goes to this school, those are things that align with my mission. I don't understand why [administrators] claim they contradict the mission of the school."

Students worry that public faculty support for the play is dwindling because of pressure from the administration.

Just three departments -- women's studies, sociology and political science -- are sponsoring the play this year, compared to five departments last year and several more the year before, Rioux said. The students also petitioned to hold the play in a larger venue, as the fire code only allows 150 audience members and the 50-member cast and crew in the current location -- but that request was denied. It is being held in the fourth-floor auditorium of the Feinstein Academic Center.

"It's the politics of it all that concern me," Rioux said. "The seniors are leaving and I'll be here next year with a new president, trying to fight for why we need this on campus. But it's so clear we need this."

The play is an educational tool that is exceptionally effective on college campuses where the incidence of date rape is high, Rioux said. A national study found that 70,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 were victims of alcohol-related sexual assault in 2002.

Despite the opposition by administrators, students have embraced the message of the play.

"It's clear demand for the play isn't going away," Rioux said. Even relying on word of mouth, last night's performance was sold out, and organizers hope both shows tonight will also be full.

Some of the money raised from the $5 tickets goes to the V-Day organization, which has financed women's rights initiatives in Afghanistan, fought genital mutilation in Kenya and opened rape crisis centers in Bosnia and Croatia, according to the V-Day Web site. The rest of the money goes to two local organizations that help women: Sojourner House and the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Administrators cracked down and prohibited posters and advertisements last year.

"The word vagina was something they didn't want to see," said senior Courtney Howard, who spearheaded the organization for the play.

Howard said she understands the college is Catholic and has a right to promote Catholic teachings and beliefs. But the lack of communication disturbs her.

"I guess what I don't understand is why there's no open dialogue about it," Howard said. "I'm not aware of the reasons they really oppose it."

Staff writer Jennifer D. Jordan can be reached at jjordan [at] projo.com