Celebrities who champion women’s causes

The Vagina Monologues has long been associated with celebrity actresses – all giving their names and talents for the cause of women. In New York, well known actresses such as Jane Fonda, Glenn Close, Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Oprah Winfrey, Calista Flockhart, Marisa Tomei, Rosie Perez, Isabella Rosellini and Kate Winslet, among others, have lent their name to the play.

Having produced the play since 2000, we have come to meet and work with some of the most incredible women, both here and abroad, who have been a part of TVM and VDay – the international movement sparked by the play.

Recently, New Voice Company Executive Producer Rossana Abueva and I were invited to attend the VDay Summit in Rome, where TVM playwright Eve Ensler and 25 other VDay artist/activists met last September to envision a violence-free world for women. We were joined in the summit by Academy-Award winning actress Jane Fonda. Jane is a member of the highly-esteemed VDay Counsel advisory group, has given generously to VDay and has acted in many VDay events. Meeting Jane was a tremendous honor. Not only is she a brilliant actress, she is also a long-time activist. In Rome, she spoke to us about being in Olongapo during the anti-Vietnam war days.

She was also very generous in giving praises to Filipino women. "Filipino women can topple governments," she said. She wept as we told her stories about our comfort women. Being both an artist and an activist, she shared with me personal experiences on how the journey has been both challenging and fulfilling for her, and advised and encouraged me "to keep on going no matter what, to stay strong – and to stick to my convictions and beliefs no matter how difficult." Needless to say, she is a true inspiration.

A good friend, Ninotchka Roska, recently met Jane in New York and saw her wearing the Purple Rose (international campaign to end sex trafficking for Filipino women) pin we had given her at the summit. "Strong Filipino women gave me this pin. I wear it with pride," she said.

Returning to London a few days after, we caught a performance of Streetcar Named Desire starring Glenn Close. After the performance we went backstage to congratulate her. She immediately saw the VDay cap I was wearing and came over to tell us she had been doing many VDay events in the US too (of course we knew this, we had seen her do Reclaiming Cunt in Madison Square Garden in 2001, getting 18,000 people to shout "cunt" with her!). She chatted with us as we exchanged VDay stories, and when we asked for a photograph with her, she generously obliged. "Any friend of Eve Ensler is also my friend", she said. She told us after that she doesn’t normally pose for photos, but did so with us because we produce VDay in Asia – and because she "supports and admires the work we do for women through VDay."

It is not only international celebrities who support VDay and TVM. In the Philippines we have been blessed with the support and the remarkable talents of some of our most famous and celebrated Filipino women. The likes of Cherie Gil, Bibot Amador, Regine Velasquez, Grace Nono, Che Che Lazaro, Winnie Monsod, Roselle Nava, Nanette Inventor, Mitch Valdes, Celeste Legaspi, Cher Calvin, Baby Barredo, Angel Jacob, to name just a few, have done our past VDay events, not to mention our regular TVM actresses like Tami Monsod, Lyn Sherman, Harlene Bautista-Sarmenta and Lara Fabregas, among others, who have been performing and touring the show for two years.

This November at the Music Museum, we have a brand-new cast for The Vagina Monologues – all critically-acclaimed celebrities lending their names and ta-lent once again for women. The English cast will feature Belinda Panelo, Angel Aquino and acclaimed theater actress (recently gaining rave reviews as Bloody Mary in the National Theater London production of South Pacific directed by Trevor Nunn) – Shiela Francisco. The English shows will begin their run on Nov. 8, 9, 15 and 16.

The Filipino cast will feature award-winning theater film and TV actress and West End artist Pinky Amador, Angelu de Leon, and Gina Alajar. The Filipino version of the play will run on Nov, 22, 23, 29 and 30.