ANN ARBOR—Few people could turn down a nice box of chocolates or a couple of red roses, but this year in Ann Arbor there’s a lot more to Valentine’s Day than dinner out with your sweetie.

The presence of Eve Ensler, author of the award-winning play “The Vagina Monologues,” will ensure that V-Day celebrations add some substance to this usually frothy holiday. V-Day is a global movement that uses Valentine’s Day as a platform to increase awareness and raise money to stop violence against women and girls all over the world. It grew out of conversations Ensler had with women after early performances of “The Vagina Monologues.”

Now in its 6th year, the V-Day movement has raised more than $13.5 million for anti-violence organizations throughout the world. Ensler will speak about her work in a talk titled “Imagining V-World” at 3 p.m. Feb. 14 in 1800 Chemistry Building, 930 North University, on the U-M Central Campus. The talk is free and open to the public. Ensler’s new play, “Necessary Targets,” will be playing at Ann Arbor’s Performance Network Feb. 6-March 9.

This is the midwest premiere of the play, which tells the story of two American women who journey to Bosnia to help women refugees and emerge deeply changed themselves. On V-Day, Feb. 14, the theater will host a reception for Ensler at 5:30 p.m., followed by the performance at 8 p.m. Ensler is visiting Ann Arbor to attend her play and also to participate in the lecture series “Women in the Aftermath of War.”

Her visit is sponsored by Performance Network, the Women’s Studies Program and the Residential College along with the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, the Center for the Education of Women, Dialogues on Diversity, UMHS Women’s Health Program, Center for World Performance Studies, the School of Art and Design, Arts at Michigan, Arts of Citizenship, the Sexual Assault and Prevention and Awareness Center, the Center for Russian and East European Studies, the School of Social Work, the University Musical Society, and the V-Day College Campaign at the University of Michigan.

For more information about V-Day events at U-M, email the producers of “The Vagina Monologues” at bigv@umich.eduor go to www.geocities.com/umvday2003. For “Necessary Targets” ticket and performance information, see www.performancenetwork.org or call (734) 663-0681. To learn more about V-Day, visit www.vday.org. Find out about other events in the Women in the Aftermath of War series at www.lsa.umich.edu/women/aftermath.htm.