"The Vagina Monologues" was our first production of the year.
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We were granted the rights for a benefit production of Eve Ensler's award-winning play to raise money and awareness for local organizations that work to stop violence against women and girls.
In 2002, V-Day happened in 800 venues around the world. Celebrations were held in an Anglican Church in Nova Scotia, a Masai village in Kenya, a Lakota reservation in South Dakota, a stadium in Manilla and a synagogue in Great Britain. This year V-Day expects to fill the halls and theatres of many more cities and towns around the world, spreading the hope of a violence-free world for women and girls.
In 2003 the Florians' performance was one of hundreds - maybe even thousands - of events around the world channelling their creative energy into making a difference as part of the V-Day Worldwide Campaign. In addition to involving a strong cast of actors from our club, Maureen MacMillan (MSP) and other notable local women took part. The Highland Council supported our efforts and linked our performance with the launch of its consultative draft of its domestic abuse strategy.
Statistics on domestic abuse in the Highlands are shocking. In 2000-01 the Northern Constabulary recorded that 1653 incidents of domestic abuse were reported; and we know that between only 2 to 18% of incidents are reported (depending on which research is quoted). Last year Women's Aid groups in Highland received 359 requests for information and support.
As an Inverness club we donated all profits from our event to Inverness Women's Aid. Due to licensing conditions, we were only able to do one public, chargeable performance, which was on Saturday 22nd February 2003. We were also allowed to admit the public to our dress rehearsal on Friday 21st February at the same time. We could not charge for admission, but anyone coming along to the dress rehearsal was expected to give a suitable donation.
We may possibly be doing this again in 2004, depending on our building work going ahead.
We put on this play by Sue Townsend from Wednesday 26th - Saturday 29th November 2003.