This time of year, dreams of love and talk of fairy-tale romance fill the frigid air. But some women around town will be taking a more anatomic approach to this weekend: They'll be talking about their vaginas.

Sponsored by the Black Caucus, a group of female students will present The Vagina Monologues at 8 tonight, Friday and Saturday in Schwab Auditorium. A group of State College women will also perform the monologues at 7 p.m. Sunday at the State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave.

Students at Penn State have performed The Vagina Monologues for the past nine years on campus, but this will be the first year the performance will take place downtown.

Local resident Valerie Jarrett will be producing the downtown performance. She said she first participated in the performance in 2004 in Colorado and has wanted to produce it here ever since she moved to State College.

"I'm kind of a crazy lady, and that's how it all got started," she said.

The Vagina Monologues was written by Eve Ensler in 1996 after a series of interviews with 200 women about their sexuality and relationships.

One goal of the performance is meant to bring about awareness of violence against women, said Sarah Kosar (sophomore-theatre), one of the assistant producers of the on-campus production, who added that the show isn't about criticizing or putting down men.

"The Vagina Monologues is not about bashing men," she said. "It's really just a positive thing for both men and women to laugh about and have a good time."

Some of the monologues are comedic, such as pontificating on an animate vagina's potential wardrobe, while others have a more serious tone, like the wartime horror stories of women that were raped and tortured.

"Some of the monologues are difficult to listen to," said Lauren Gibbs (sophomore-nursing), who's participating in the show.

Thirty-one students are involved with this year's on-campus production of The Vagina Monologues, including four assistant directors.

The women in the group are open and "extremely uninhibited," said assistant director Amy Schultz (junior-sociology), especially as more rehearsals pass and everyone is comfortable with one another.

"It is empowering to be around this group of women," she said, "and it's a lot of fun."

The downtown production at the State Theatre will include 25 community members and six Penn State students, Jarrett said.

The separate productions shouldn't stop people from attending both performances, said Kristy Cyone, marketing director at the State Theatre.

"This is a little bit different; this is a benefit. And, there's no rule that says you can't go see it twice," she said.

All State Theatre proceeds from the $15 student tickets and $18 general tickets will be split between the Centre County Women's Resource Center and the Katrina Warriors Network.

The network was chosen by the national Vagina Monologues campaign, known as V-Day, and is "dedicated to helping women and girls living in New Orleans and the Gulf South," according to the V-Day Web site, v10.vday.org.

The Centre County Women's Resource Center, 140 W. Nittany Ave., will receive 90 percent of the proceeds, Jarrett said.

"The most important thing for me is that we're activists first -- we care about women and violence against women," she said.

The center's purpose is to help victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, administrative assistant Ellen Slingerland said.

Slingerland, of State College, will also be performing in the downtown production, and said the opportunity to be a part of the show is liberating.

"It's hard to say the 'v' word sometimes for us older women," she said.

The State Theatre production has a 14 and older age restriction because of that 'v' word and other content in the show.

Last week, the theater filed a police report concerning an e-mail with a threatening subject line that criticized its hosting of the show.

The theater has also received a few other e-mails concerning the content of the production.

"We knew there would be controversy literally bringing The Vagina Monologues across the street," Jarrett said.

She said the production will continue Sunday night without any changes.