THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES Plays Bucks County Playhouse, Now thru 2/17

The Bucks County Playhouse (BCP) has announced that Olivia Oguma (Eve Ensler's Emotional Creature) will join Adriane Lenox and Andrea McArdle for the limited engagement of The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler and directed by Karen Carpenter. Oguma replaces Elizabeth Ashley who regretfully had to withdraw due to personal reasons and hopes to return to The Playhouse stage in the near future. Performances will be tonight, February 13 - Sunday, February 17 at the Bucks County Playhouse (70 South Main Street in New Hope, PA).

Olivia Oguma was most recently a member of the original six person cast of Eve Ensler's newest play Emotional Creature, which had its New York Premiere Off-Broadway at the Pershing Square Signature Center. She also received a CT Critics Circle Award for her work in BFE at Playwrights Horizons and Long Wharf Theater.

An Obie Award-winning whirlwind tour of a forbidden zone, The Vagina Monologues introduces a wildly divergent gathering of female voices, including 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 happy to have found a man who "liked to look at it." The Vagina Monologues is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

Earlier this month, BCP Producing Director Jed Bernstein announced that proceeds from this production will benefit Bucks County's only organization to support victims of domestic violence, A Woman's Place.

A Woman's Place (AWP) provides comprehensive free, private, and confidential service, support, education, outreach, and advocacy to victims of domestic and dating violence and their children and the community. $10 from each full priced ticket sold will be donated back to the organization.

Says AWP Executive Director Ifeoma Aduba, "I am in awe. A Woman's Place is beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with such an incredible group as the Bucks County Playhouse and on a production as deeply powerful and important to women as The Vagina Monologues. I hope everyone comes out to celebrate Valentine's Week and this collaboration to benefit our Bucks County community. "

More information can be found at awomansplace.org.

The Vagina Monologues will play the following schedule: tonight, February 13 at 8:00 p.m., Thursday, February 14 at 8:00 p.m., Friday, February 15 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, February 16 at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, February 17 at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday "Preview" tickets are $29 - $49, Thursday "Valentine's Day" Premium tickets are $40 - $65 (will include a glass of champagne or sparkling cider), and Friday - Sunday "Regular" tickets are $34 - $59. Group prices (10 or more) are 25% off. For full details, and to purchase tickets, visit bcptheater.org or call 215-862-2121.

Located 90 minutes from New York City, the Bucks County Playhouse opened in 1939 on the site of a grist mill dating from the late eighteenth century. Ironically, the structure was at that time in danger of demolition; however playwright Moss Hart and the local community rallied to save the building and re-opened it as a theatrical venue, which quickly became one of the country's most famous regional theaters, with a veritable who's who of American theatrical royalty including Kim Hunter, Helen Hayes, Kitty Carlisle, Colleen Dewhurst, Shirley Booth, Lillian Gish, June Lockhart, Grace Kelly, Robert Redford, Bert Lahr, Leslie Nielsen and Walter Matthau and remained in continuous operation until December 2010. Thanks to the Bridge Street Foundation, the non-profit family foundation of Kevin and Sherri Daugherty with Tanya Cooper as President, this beloved theatrical landmark was re-opened and celebrated on July 2, 2012, exactly 73 years and day from when it originally opened in 1939.

Olivia Oguma was most recently a member of the original six person cast of Eve Ensler's newest play Emotional Creature, Off-Broadway at the Pershing Square Signature Center. Olivia also received a CT Critics Circle Award for her work in BFE at Playwrights Horizons and Long Wharf Theater. Broadway and National Tours: Les Miserables, Mamma Mia, A Christmas Carol, Disney's High School Musical (1st national tour). Off-Broadway: The Dispute (NAATCO), BFE (Playwrights Horizons), Sarah Plain & Tall (Lortel Theater). Regional: Emotional Creature (Berkeley Rep), Snow Falling On Cedars (Portland Center Stage), Where it Came From (O'Neill Theater Center), Honk (Two River Theater) Skin of our Teeth (Bristol Riverside), 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Philadelphia Theater Co & Papermill Playhouse) TV/Film: Han on Season 2 of "The Big C", "As the World Turns", "All My Children", "Law & Order", "The New Electric Co", HallMark Hall Of Fame's "Flamingo Rising", Strangers with Candy the Movie.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy