Cast members rehearse for ‘The Vagina Monologues’ Tuesday night in the Chapel. PHOTO BY LILY PRICE

Look who’s talking now. They are pink, liberated from the panty prison and very angry.

For the tenth year in a row, Project Safe is putting on “The Vagina Monologues,” an episodic play by Eve Ensler about the joys and strife of being a woman — as told by their most intimate parts.

Men, do not be intimidated; the show is intended not only for those who own them, but also for those who love them or came from one — but you’re going to have to be brave enough to hear the truth.

Joan Prittie, producer of “The Vagina Monologues” and executive director of Project Safe says that often one-third to one-half of the crowd is male.

Perhaps they were dragged there by their lady friends, but they often end up enjoying it, Prittie said.

Project Safe began putting on “The Vagina Monologues” 10 years ago as an entertaining fundraiser for their organization. When Eve Ensler first wrote the play, she performed it by herself as a type of readers’ theatre.

Now, it has skyrocketed to universities all over the country due to its outrageous yet comedic honesty and philanthropic script use requirements.

Ensler’s only condition for performing the show is that every penny earned go towards that city’s local battered women’s shelter, which in Athens is Project Safe.

The show consists of 13 different monologues, some performed solo and some with multiple actresses. Most monologues are consistent every year, though Ensler writes one new piece for the show annually.

Many women in the show have been touched by some aspect of domestic violence and consider it a cause very close to their hearts.

Cast member Bree Riley, a sophomore theatre major, is the president of Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention, an organization that offers support services for victims of violence or abuse.

Athens mayor Heidi Davison will even show her support of the initiative and become a part of the cast for Friday evening’s show for the eighth year in a row.

“What a fun and unique mayor we have that would be a part of this show,” Prittie said. “It shows how much she believes in the message.”

Fellow cast member and University employee Kathleen Mitchell Phipps said the powerful, unique way the play presents women’s issues is what makes it so effective.

“I was in The Vagina Monologues last year because I love what it’s about. I love theatre and I love the message this show has to offer,” Phipps said. “The monologues are powerful. Most are real stories.”

Combining comedy with harrowing true stories of violence and abuse balances the show so it is entertaining yet informative about domestic violence and abuse.

“The pieces are so fun and enlightening,” Riley said. “You can’t leave not moved.”