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The Birth Of A Legend
Eve Ensler was born on May 25, 1953. Her parents are Arthur Ensler & Chris Ensler. -
Where It All Began
Eve Ensler was born and raised in Scarsdale, NY. She was born into a wealthy family. Her father was a food company executive and her mother a housewife. -
Sexual & Physical Abuse
Eve Ensler was sexually and physically abused by her father Author Ensler. The physical abuse contained her father hitting her with belts and other physical punishment. He would invade her in ways that were completely and totally inappropriate, (Smith, 1999). She said that the sexual abuse stopped when she was ten years old, but the physical abuse unfortunately continue. Her mother was aware of the physical abuse but not the sexual abuse. Her mother was too afraid to intervene. -
The Perfect Student
The physical and sexual abuse that she experienced led her to drinking heavily in high school and college. She attended Middlebury College in Vermont. She was offered to got to Yale Drama School but could not afford to go. Ms. Ensler said, she was "a raging lunatic" during her college years, (Smith, 1999). She had wrote an undergraduate thesis on suicide in contemporary poetry. Surprisingly, she graduated in 1975. -
Wedding Bells
After she had graduated from college she ran into Richard McDermott. Who is the owner of the West Fourth Street Saloon. In 1978 they decided to get married and she had legally adopted his son, Dylan. His mother passed away when he was five years old. The couple divorced in 1988, this was her only marriage. -
"My Life Forever Changed"
Eve said, ''My life forever changed as a result of this,'' (Smith 1999).
It was the first time she had found a way to bring politics and her art self together. After ''Depot'' she wrote ''Scooncat'';it was produced at the Samuel Beckett Theater with her son Dylan McDermott playing a man ruled by technology. Then the Music Theater Group asked her to write ''Cinderella/Cendrillon,'' an adaptation of Massenet's opera about Cinderella, which was performed at St. Clement's Church. -
It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know
Her son Dylan had an acting coach named Joanne Woodward. Eve and Joanne were conversing about Eve's play ''Coming From Nothing,'' about a girl trying to remember her childhood. Going forward they decided to write a play together ''The Depot,'' a one-woman play about nuclear disarmament. Joanne directed the play, with Shirley Knight as the star. The play toured for two years and was performed at a nuclear test site in Nevada. -
Play: The Vagina Monologue
Synopsis: The Vagina Monologues introduces a gathering of female voices. Which includes a six-year-old girl, a septuagenarian New Yorker, a vagina workshop participant, a woman who witnesses the birth of her granddaughter, a Bosnian survivor of rape, and a feminist.
http://www.eveensler.org/plays/the-vagina-monologues/ -
Fun Fact: A Born Star!
Her son Dylan was the star of the hit television series ''The Practice.'' When Eve adopted Dylan he was 19 and she was 26. She claimed that wanted Dylan to have a mother figure in his life even though she never wanted to have children of her own. (Smith, 1999) -
V-Day
Eve Ensler is the founder of V-Day (until the violence stops). With her traumatic sexual and physical abuse from her father. She wanted to become a global activist to end violence against women and girls. That includes rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), and sex slavery. Every year on February 14 millions of people gather to educate others and prevent violence against women and girls arid the globe. How awesome!
https://www.vday.org/about.html -
Play: Conviction
A play about two sisters and one who has been in prison.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conviction_(play) -
Play: Necessary Target
Necessary Targets is about two American women who are a psychiatrist and an ambitious young writer. They travel to Bosnia to help women refugees confront their memories of war. Though the women have little in common they do confront their own fears in the face of violence, resiliency, and war. http://www.eveensler.org/plays/necessary-targets/ -
Movie Star
Eve Elsner released a film about her hosting a writers workshop with 15 women in a New York state prison who are convicted of murder.
http://archive.pov.org/whatiwant/film-description/ -
Play: The Good Body
Synopsis: With The Good Body, Eve Ensler speaks to women from all different backgrounds and countries about being comfortable with their stomachs/bodies after turning a certain age.
http://www.eveensler.org/plays/the-good-body/ -
Play: The Treatment
Synopsis: This play involves a two-character drama delves into the layers of power, fear, and intimacy that exist between a traumatized soldier (and former military interrogator) and the female psychologist colonel who is assigned to give him routine treatment. The Treatment is a blunt exploration of torture, accountability, and a soldier’s “duty” to commit atrocities in the name of democracy. http://www.eveensler.org/plays/the-treatment/ -
Play: Lemonade
Synopsis: Lemonade is a play about a middle-aged housewife and an odd man who build a fun and complex bond. The middle-age housewife has daughter and sends them on the run from the law. http://www.eveensler.org/plays/lemonade/ -
Cancer
In May 2010, after having created V-Day as a result of this "vision," she received the diagnosis of cancer. It started with a large tumor in her uterus. Then she had cancer in her liver and colon. She found that it was a coincidence that the "celebrator of the vagina, champion of raped and oppressed women everywhere had huge tumor in her uterus," (Farrant, 2013) -
Play: I Am A Emotional Creature
Synopsis: American who struggles with peer pressure in a suburban high school. An anorexic blogging as she eats less, a Masai girl from Kenya unwilling to endure female genital mutilation, a Bulgarian sex slave, no more than fifteen, a Chinese factory worker making Barbies; an Iranian student who is tricked into a nose job; a pregnant girl trying to decide if she should keep her baby. https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/4734/i-am-an-emotional-creature -
Tony Award Winner
In 2011, Eve Elsner was a Tony award winner and was the recipient of the Isabelle Stevenson Award for being the founder of V-Day and artistic director. http://www.playbill.com/article/athol-fugard-philip-j-smith-eve-ensler-win-special-tony-awards-com-177969
