Courtesy photo Melissa Marlowe will direct ‘The Vagina Monologues.'

When the call went out for someone to direct a% V-Day performance of “The Vagina Monologues,” Melissa Marlowe jumped at such an opportunity, despite a full-time job, family and other day-to-day activities.

“This is one thing that's hard to fit into the schedule, and it's a lot of work on top of a full-time job and other projects,” said Marlowe, directing “The Vagina Monologues” for the third-straight year. “But it doesn't matter, because it's one thing that I'll make time for, no matter what. I feel strongly about it, because it's not only an amazing fundraising effort, but just the camaraderie among the women who participate is really great.”

“The Vagina Monologues,” a female-exclusive episodic play in which cast members share various aspects of being a woman, will run at the Magik Theatre Feb. 11-12. The performance is part of San Antonio's 10th annual V-Day celebration, which raises awareness of physical and sexual abuse against women and girls. All proceeds from the two performances will benefit the Rape Crisis Center, the P.E.A.C.E. Initiative and the Battered Women and Children's Shelter of Bexar County.

“It really creates such a beautiful community of women who participate,” said Marlowe, a theatre instructor at Northwest Vista College. “The feeling to be with these women, it makes them feel very powerful and empowered doing this, and I think it creates that (feeling) in the audience.”

Although the audience is mostly comprised of females, Marlowe estimates that men make up roughly 30 percent of the audience. And Marlowe was surprised last year when she went onstage to perform (she is one of the cast members as well as the director) and saw one of her male students in the crowd.

“He was sitting right there,” she said. “I thought, ‘I can't look back there.'.”

“The Vagina Monologues” not only deals with aspects of female life, such as childbirth and self-esteem, but also tackles culture from across the globe.

Despite those culture-specific performances, Marlowe — whose portion of the play focuses on childbirth — considers the play very broad in its scope.

“It's very universal in theme,” she said.

CLINT HALE | 210SA