The World According To Crystal

"V" IS FOR...: I have met Eve Ensler a few times. In 2007, she visited Charlotte, and I got to host a talk-back during one of her shows.

If you’re not used to that word, you need to get over it. I’m going to be saying it a lot.

Wait! I’ll be saying it a lot… again.

I got the news last night from actor/director Sheila Snow Proctor that I would be in the Feb. 13 production of “The Vagina Monologues” at Winthrop University. Tickets are $5-$10 and are available through CarolinaTix. (The Edge Theatre Company is helping with this performance.)

My Facebook page exploded when I posted the news in my status update. Some folks may not realize this but me and “The Vagina Monologues,” we go way back.

During a 2001 visit to San Francisco, my friend Kathie and I scored front row tickets for a performance by Eve Ensler. Yep, I sat front row, center, and Eve rocked my world. Seriously, the next week, I got my nose pierced. The following, I had my hair dyed red. The hair color remains but not the piercing.

That fall, Angelina Corbet asked me to be in a community-wide performance of “The Vagina Monologues.” The diverse cast was a mix of power-brokers, media types and professional actors. IT WAS AMAZING.  I met some of my dearest friends, including Sheila, during that show. And to this day, if I see one of my fellow “Vagina Queens” (my nickname for us), I get mushy.

This year, I am lucky enough to get a double dose of VDay, the organization that coordinates the productions and efforts to help women and girls.

I am working with VDay Charlotte on the Feb. 11 preview party in the Atrium at Amelie’s French Bakery. And on Feb. 13, I’ll head to Winthrop University in Rock Hill to read one of my favorite monologues with some old friends and what I’m sure will be new friends.

Hope to see you at one of the events. Or both.