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The 2025 cast of V-Day performing in Hayden 100.
MARY HALEY / THE QUADRANGLE

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Mary Haley, Marketing Chair & Asst. Features Editor

Every year on and around Valentine’s Day, domestic abuse and violence against women increases. V-Day, an international activism movement, is commemorated annually by Manhattan University’s Players’ performance of V-Day, which includes a collection of monologues that range from violence against women to simply – or not simply – how it is to live life as a woman. 

Senior Angelina Perez and sophomore Karie Alvarez directed this year’s V-Day performance, named “Her Body, Her Voice: A Collection Of V-Day Monologues,” where they set up chairs on the stage of Hayden 100 to create a quiet scene for the topics presented. 

The performance was a series of monologues recited by eight students. The monologues ranged from “The Woman Who Liked To Make Vaginas Happy” and “My Angry Vagina” from V-Day’s founder, V’s (formerly Eve Ensler), book, “The Vagina Monologues.”

Anna Burnett, a current MBA student, performed “The Woman Who Liked To Make Vaginas Happy,” a lighthearted story about a woman’s journey on how she fell into the particular career she is in. 

Burnett has been a part of V-Day productions since 2018, and this year’s production was her last. She reflected on how she has been able to grow through being a part of V-Day at MU through the years.

“[Perez and Alvarez] actually assigned me [the monologue],” Burnett said. “At first, I was kind of nervous because I had not really explored a monologue like that, but I honestly ended up really loving it. So it’s been  a fun learning curve, and being more comfortable in things that I wouldn’t necessarily do. In the past I performed pieces on domestic violence and addiction because that was my upbringing, so I used to always pick pieces like that. So I think it’s also good that I’m stepping away from that, because I used to make that my identity, so I feel like this also shows a lot of healing for me.”

This year was the first that Perez and Alvarez made the directorial decision to have the performers sit on the stage all in their own chairs. The chairs faced the crowd and in a half circle, referencing a rehab meeting, as each performer stated their name along with what they were “dealing” with. 

Alvarez also explained to The Quadrangle that this year, they chose more than just the monologues from V’s book.

“A few of [the monologues] were from ‘The Vagina Monologues,’ which are like the original V-Day monologues,” Alvarez said. “It’s an entire show of monologues, so it’s about an hour long. So we took a few from there, and then we researched a few other different plays.”

Junior Juliana Verdone performed “The Vagina Workshop” monologue, a story of a woman’s self identity, anatomically and emotionally. 

“I’m glad that I grew up having a more comprehensive sex education than other people, but I think it’s really important the fact that not every woman knows how their own vagina works,” Verdone said. “So I feel like it’s really important that women understand their own anatomy, because it’s literally you. The fact that we are all surrounded by male anatomy constantly in society, and everyone knows what it looks like, it’s time for women to rise up.”

Alvarez concluded on her time directing this short, but crucial, production.

“For me, this collection of monologues can really show the breadth of experience for a woman’s life,” Alvarez said. “I think it’s really important to showcase that for everyone.”