Oftentimes, theater is aimed at being humorous or dramatic, but sometimes it is used to portray something far more meaningful. Such is the case with “The Vagina Monologues,” a play written by Eve Ensler aimed at raising awareness about women’s issues, which will be performed by students this weekend at the Maintenance Shop.

“My short skirt is not a legal reason to rape me. Although it has been before, it will not hold up in the new court. My short skirt, believe it or not, has nothing to do with you,” said Kimberly Smith, graduate student in educational leadership and policy studies, reciting a line from the performance. Smith is one of several student performers in “The Vagina Monologues.”

The play is based on interviews with various women across the world who were raped, molested or endured physical abuse.

In a poetic spoken word format, actresses re-enact different segments of the interviews to an audience in order to embrace not only the abuse suffered by the women, but also the reclaiming of the body and soul of the women.

In recent years, “The Vagina Monologues” has grown from a small, Obie Award-winning play to a large following of women and men whose goal is to stop violence and discrimination against women.

Ensler has evolved the meaning of the play to a national campaign to promote her cause, simply titled “V-Day,” which kicked off Feb. 14. The “V” stands for victory, valentines and vagina.

To promote V-Day, Ensler encourages students at various colleges and universities to hold a benefit production of “Vagina Monologues.” Amanda Halfacre, sophomore in child, adult and family services and coordinator for the ISU performance, said that all proceeds will go to charity. She said the title and show format is very blunt and open about the use of the word “vagina.”

“When you hear the word vagina, you think of something dirty,” Halfacre said. “When I advertised ‘[The] Vagina Monologues,’ I received dirty looks from people.”

At Iowa State, organizations sponsoring “The Vagina Monologues” include the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center and Cyclones for Choice, a women’s pro-choice group on-campus.

Smith said she thinks Iowa State has a conservative campus.

“We have a conservative campus and we don’t have these types of forums where we can talk about these issues,” she said.

Smith can relate to certain issues that “Vagina Monologues” addresses, particularly rape. She said her mother was raped as a child and never really discussed what happened with her until she was married.

Katherine Lundberg, sophomore in political science, said she has friends that are ISU students that have been raped.

“I know three students that have been raped at Iowa State. They were raped by other Iowa State students. It’s hard to embrace and approach them,” she said. She said none of her friends ever reported the crime to the police because they were ashamed.

Lundberg said she believes “The Vagina Monologues” is a platform that is needed not only at Iowa State, but also around the world in order to end rape and violence against women. Lundberg said that repeated use of “vagina” is necessary to remove the taboo and disconnection that women have with their bodies.

“I ask people ‘have they gotten their vaginas yet,'” she said. “Half of the world’s population has a vagina – it’s not that personal and should be talked about.”