Michiana Monologues – women's stories of "Love, Joy, Pain" – to be performed at Goshen College

Event: Michiana Monologues 2010 "Love, Joy, Pain"
Date and time: Friday, March 19, 7 p.m.
Location: Goshen College Music Center's Sauder Concert Hall
Cost: $10. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Goshen College Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566.

GOSHEN, Ind. – The Michiana Monologues – titled "Love, Joy, Pain" – bring together women's stories of pain and empowerment in a reader's theater-type performance aimed at educating people about the challenges women face and to empower all people to end violence against women and work toward gender justice.

One of the three Michiana Monologues performances in the region will be at the Goshen College Music Center's Sauder Concert Hall on Friday, March 19 at 7 p.m. It was also performed on Feb. 18-20 at Indiana University-South Bend and on March 6 in Elkhart.

This is the third year for the Michiana Monologues and the title is a reference to Eve Ensler's book, "The Vagina Monologues," in which she collected stories of women's struggles and triumphs. Each story in the Michiana Monologues was submitted anonymously by a woman from the Michiana region and will be performed by Michiana women. Several Goshen College faculty, staff and alumni will be performing at the event.

Regina Shands Stoltzfus, assistant professor of peace, justice and conflict studies at Goshen College, performed in last year's Michiana Monologues, and is involved in this year's production as well. She will deliver a monologue titled "It Wasn't Supposed to Happen This Way," about a woman who is widowed with four children at age 32, and struggles to find a new path in life.

Stoltzfus said that two major elements make the monologues important to her. "One is the community aspect of the whole process, of being involved with a project that gets me in touch with people in my community, talking about things that I care deeply about," she said. "Equal to that is that the production is about raising money for organizations that support women, particularly that work towards ending violence that women and children experience."

Megan Bonham, a Goshen College administrative assistant in the Career Services Office and a student, will perform a monologue. "It celebrates womanhood, which is exciting to me, but also shares about the complexity of women's lives, and the different dimensions, that not all women fit into a perfect little box," she said. "The monologues are quite varied. The show has a good mix of funny monologues as well as those that discuss violence."

Tickets cost $10 and can be purchased by calling the Goshen College Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566. All funds raised in excess of costs will be donated to organizations that serve women and children, including the Elkhart County Women's Shelter.

Professional American Sign Language interpreters will be interpreting the Michiana Monologue performances.

– By Chase Snyder

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college's Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron's Best Buys in Education, "Colleges of Distinction," "Making a Difference College Guide" and U.S.News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" edition, which named Goshen a "least debt college." Visit www.goshen.edu.