The John Hancock Hall was the place to be on February 5, 2004. The Second Step celebrated its tenth anniversary with a gala benefit performance of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues as part of the V-Day 2004 worldwide campaign. Five months of intensive hard work by cast, crew, committee members, and staff paid off in a one-night-only sold-out production in front of a crowd of 1,100 people.

The feedback after the show was extremely positive. One attendee voiced, "I'm bursting with words. You gave the people of Boston a gift". Director Billie Jo Joy used her vision and creativity to create a memorable performance, and the extraordinarily talented and diverse cast members – all volunteers and only a few professional actresses - moved the audience with powerful stories that evoked laughter and tears.

The V-Day committee made V-Day Boston 2004 the single largest fundraising event in the history of The Second Step. Generous sponsors underwrote many of the expenses and contributed to the financial success of the event. The Second Step will use the money raised to support its mission of helping survivors of domestic violence and their children.

The Vagina Monologues, written by award-winning playwright, poet, activist, and screenwriter Eve Ensler, won a 1997 Obie Award and was nominated for Drama Desk and Helen Hayes awards. The world tour of The Vagina Monologues initiated V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women. V-Day originated out of Ms. Ensler's conversations with women who approached her after early performances of the play to tell her of their own experiences of violence. The V-Day Worldwide Campaign involves hundreds of communities who produce The Vagina Monologues on or around V-Day (February 14th) to raise money and awareness to stop violence against women and girls. The proceeds from these events are donated to local organizations in the community that are working to stop sexual violence. The worldwide campaign strives to empower women to find their collective voices and demand an end to the epidemic levels of violence and abuse in their communities around the world. For more information, visit www.vday.org/world.

We will remember V-Day Boston 2004 as a wonderful celebration of womanhood in all its potency, hilarity, and heartbreak, and as a tribute to the ten successful years of The Second Step. We are grateful to all of the cast, crew, committee members, volunteers, and staff who made V-Day Boston 2004 a tremendous success.

The Second Step is grateful to Lorraine Marino and Modern Creative for the wonderful publicity the event received across the city and the state. The Second Step benefited from exposure in many newspapers including The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald and WBUR radio.

Cast members included:
Terry Byrne
Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral
Christy Scott Cashman
Joanne Chang
Marjorie O'Neill Clapprood
Jill Greenthal
Barbara W. Grossman, PhD
Terry Hamilton
Sophia Henderson
Barbara Ito
Paula Johnson, MD
Kristen Kolakowski
Patti Kraft
Barbara Lee
Sheryl Marshall
Kat Mitchell
Arunima Nandi
Letta Neely
Giovanna Negretti
Shula Reinharz, PhD
Diane Rosenfeld, JD
Marie St. Fleur
Becca Solomont
Susan Lewis Solomont
Kathy Taylor
Elaine Woo, MD
Susan Wornick

Chorus:
Neige Christensen, Barbara Helfgott Hyett, Alli Ross, April Sotura, Amy Tighe, Lailye Weidman, Jolie Yawitt, Mindy Zarem

We thank the following sponsors for their generous support:

John Hancock Financial Services
MassEnvelopePlus
Tudor Investment Corporation

Anonymous
Tammy and Peter Hermann
The Kraft Group

The Blackstone Group
The Boston Herald
Corinne and Tim Ferguson
FleetBoston Financial
Terry and Tom Hamilton
Andrea Mintz and Bob Fox
Sovereign Bank

Anita and Steve Adelson
Marla Felcher and Max Bazerman
Joan and Steve Belkin
Jay Cashman, Inc.
Coldwell Banker CARES
Historic Homes
Morgan Stanley
Susan and David Pettit
Jill and Michael Stansky
Wainwright Bank and Trust Company

The Second Step also received significant support from The Manzi Charitable Fund, Kusko Charitable Family Trust, Lisa and Michael Bronner, and Beth and Seth Klarman.