In one sense, the success of Eve Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues has been astounding. What started out quietly back in 1996 as a one-woman production in a small New York City theatre, starring Ensler herself, has grown into a global, celebrity-studded phenomenon. But in another sense, this international profile has only been natural. Among the play’s many themes is sexual violence against women and girls, a crime that has no country. In the Body of the World, Ensler’s new memoir, describes her encounter with one large-scale, systematic case of this violence, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. At around the same time, Ensler’s own body was attacked by uterine cancer. From these two strands, she has created an urgent but hope-filled meditation that draws analogies to the ways our species as a whole has scarred the Earth. Ensler will talk about In the Body of the World on Tuesday (May 14) at Capilano University’s NSCU Centre for the Performing Arts, starting at 7:30 p.m. See the Capilano University NSCU Centre for the Performing Arts website for details.