V

V, formerly known as Eve Ensler, is a pioneering playwright, performer, and activist best known for authoring the critically acclaimed play The Vagina Monologues, performed in over 140 countries across the world. V is the founder of V-Day, a global activist movement approaching its 25th anniversary. This initiative has mobilized over $120 million to combat violence against women (both cisgender and transgender), gender diverse individuals, girls, and the environment. V is also the visionary behind One Billion Rising, a coordinated effort spanning 200 nations to end gender-based violence. As co-founder of the City of Joy in the Democratic Republic of Congo with Christine Schuler Deschyrver and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege, V has played a pivotal role in creating a sanctuary for women survivors of violence. This effort was recently showcased in the acclaimed documentary City of Joy, now available on Netflix.

V has been named one of Newsweek’s “150 Women Who Changed the World” and The Guardian’s “100 Most Influential Women.” Beyond The Vagina Monologues, her plays include Lemonade, Extraordinary Measures, Necessary Targets, O.P.C., The Good Body (Broadway and National Tour), Emotional Creature and Fruit Trilogy. V recently performed In the Body of the World, a one-woman show, which she adapted for the stage from her best-selling memoir by the same name. She helped create That Kindness: Nurses in Their Own Words presented by Brooklyn Academy of Music in collaboration with theaters across the US, as a tribute to nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.