Twenty years ago, Eve Ensler's landmark and award-winning female-empowerment play "The Vagina Monologues" began and sparked a global movement, "V Day," an effort focused on ending violence against women and girls and celebrated on Valentine's Day. "The Vagina Monologues," which is at turns sad, disturbing, and also funny, has been translated into 48 languages and performed in 140 countries. The women who perform it all over the world feel a powerful connection to the material, including three of the actors who are performing the show in New York, Vicky Kuperman, Vanessa Hollingshead and Gina Savage. They stopped by Salon to share their personal experiences with the subject matter, including extremely personal revelations about sexual abuse.

Ensler's collection of stories delve into sex, body image, genital mutilation and rape, and is the result of hundreds of interviews she did while writing the play. Savage says she hopes audiences take away this message from "The Vagina Monologues:" "We're individuals," she told Salon. "If something happens to us, we should speak up then and there. No matter if you're a male or a female, the time to take action is now, in the moment, when it happens, and not be afraid to do that." To find a performance of "The Vagina Monologues" in your city visit vday.org.