LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY — The SUNY Sullivan Theater Program has announced a new performance of “V-Day One Billion Rising” for 2023. It will be held on Tuesday, February 14 at 8 p.m. in SUNY Sullivan's Seelig Theatre. 

The play was formerly known as “The Vagina Monologues,” and was created by V (previously known as Eve Ensler). 

The play is an annual event held by the theater program holds on the SUNY Sullivan campus, empowering women and raising awareness about violence against them.

The performance will be ensemble-directed and acted, with head direction by Jessica López-Barkl. All proceeds for this event will go to Fearless Hudson Valley, supporting its work in Orange and Sullivan counties to build an informed, just and accountable society so all people can experience supportive and safe relationships free from abuse, exploitation, and oppression. 

“One Billion Rising,” according to a press release, is the biggest campaign to end violence against women (including cisgender and transgender people, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender-based violence) in human history. 

The campaign, which was launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, began as a call to action based on the statistic that one in three women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at seven billion, this adds up to more than one billion women and girls.

The event brings together women who hold identities that are often marginalized and face oppression from each community. They will tell their own stories through monologues, spoken word, songs, film and dance. 

Learn more at onebillionrising.org.

The Seelig Theatre is located at 112 College Rd.

For more information, email Jessica López-Barkl at jbarkl@sunysullivan.edu.