V-Day event at Lido today
Elia Powers
As part of the V-Day movement, which aims to end violence against
women, “The Vagina Monologues” is making a one-night stop tonight at
the Regency Lido Theater in Newport Beach.
And Nelson Nio is the man behind the production.
The Newport Beach resident booked the venue, searched for the
actresses, hand-picked the directors and sought publicity for the
show, which will raise money for Human Options, an Irvine shelter for
domestic-violence survivors.
Nio’s motivation came in August 2003, when a female friend was
attacked while walking outside her home in Costa Mesa.
“People think nothing like that happens here, but this [incident]
was proof it goes on in our back yard,” Nio said. “When I did
research on the impact of violence against women, I knew I had to
take action.”
Nio read about V-Day, then in its third year, and was determined
to bring an event to Orange County. He decided to utilize Eve
Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” which debuted in 1996 in
off-Broadway performances.
The show runs about 100 minutes and costs $20.
Nio solicited the help of Emily Germano and Shannah Laumeister,
who are directing the Newport Beach production.
Germano, 20, auditioned for the show when it played at Glendale
Community College, where she is a second-year student.
She has two roles in the 11-woman show, which she describes as a
mix of drama and comedy, most relating to issues of women’s
empowerment.
Germano said she plans to address the audience at the end of the
play about a range of topics, including the mission of V-Day.
“I’m passionate about issues in the play,” she said. “I want to
let people know what’s going on in the world with domestic violence
and sexual assault.”
Germano said she was a victim of domestic violence as a child
living in the Philippines.
Nio said he was inundated with verbal abuse when he was growing up
in Indonesia. He said native Indonesians often yelled obscenities at
Chinese Indonesians like himself.
“I got into a lot of street fights,” he said. “I felt like I
needed to protect myself.”
So Nio, then a teenager, learned martial arts.
When he moved to Fullerton in 1986, Nio continued to practice the
skill. In October, he started Shield, a women’s self-defense program.
Nio, a mortgage banker, rented a gymnasium in Newport Beach and
now runs six-week classes for groups of eight to 12 women. He takes
them through meditation exercises and a range of kung fu drills,
especially elbow and knee strikes, he said.
The training focuses on balance, body alignment and breathing
techniques. It includes an arrangement where a woman is blindfolded
and surrounded by people acting as assailants.
“It simulates real attacks,” he said. “The biggest thing they need
to be comfortable with is the ability to fend off the freeze
response.”
San Juan Capistrano resident Veronica Orosco was a student of the
class.
“I wasn’t aware of how critical it is to protect myself,” she
said. “When he [Nio] started talking about self defense, I thought
about all the times I have walked alone.”
Orosco and Nio said they hope to see the day when self-defense
training isn’t necessary.
For now, though, they say events like V-Day and programs like
Shield are the best educational tools.
“It’s a chance for people to learn about the realities of violence
and abuse in this county,” Nio said.
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