Women are talking about their vaginas, said Esteli Juarez, director of "The Vagina Monologues."
Juarez is directing the show for the third year in a row with support from the Women's Law Caucus and other law organizations on campus such as the Native American Law Students Association and the Jewish Law Students Association.
"I was about 20 when I did 'The Vagina Monologues' for the first time, and it just really changed the way that I felt about myself," Juarez said. "I think it's growing a community and a culture of people who want to talk about these things, and they want women to talk about them with. I think it helps people grow, and it helps them feel like they're not alone."
Juarez said the production has seen a better turnout each year, and she expects the same this year.
"The first year we had around 200 people, and last year we had about 250 to 275 people," Juarez said. "We're hoping to get a full house every night and get about 350 people.. We are such a small community here that we know everyone. So when people from the law school come and bring their friends and family, I think it makes a difference."
Ninety percent of the proceeds are donated to the Urban Indian Advocacy Program, a domestic abuse shelter for American Indian women in Albuquerque, Juarez said, and 10 percent of the proceeds are sent to the Congo to help improve women's quality of life.
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Juarez said men shouldn't feel intimidated by the production.
"Women are talking about the way it feels being a woman, and men are talking about the way they interact with women," Juarez said. "They are talking about violence or rape, and a lot of these things are shut out from our daily discussion and our lives. People don't tend to talk about them at all, and when they come up it is uncomfortable, and I think this really gives people a space to do it where it is non-confrontational and relaxing and inviting."
Juarez said the production brings out emotions in audience members.
"It's not really so aggressive or in-your-face, (but) it is also sad, and it hurts, and it makes you laugh, so I think that once you get all those things, it makes it easier to discuss with people," Juarez said.
Eve Ensler, creator of "The Vagina Monologues," writes a new piece for the productions every year about the challenges women face in a specific part of the world. This year's main piece is about women in the genocide-stricken Congo, where women and their families endure rape and torture on a daily basis.
"It's about what is going on there now and why there has been a war there for so long and the effect it is having on women," Juarez said. "The piece itself is about an 8-year-old girl and her experience being raped and when Eve Ensler went to the Congo and she met this little girl and what that experience was like for her."
'The Vagina Monologues'
Thursday-Saturday, 6 p.m.
Room 2401 at the School of Law
$5 students/$10 non-students
Thursday's tickets are half-price
