As Ensler was helping build a sanctuary for rape survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she discovered that she had stage 3/4 uterine cancer. After she turned that experience into a memoir, she, and director Diane Paulus, made it into a one-woman play. “Ensler says there’s something very ‘meta’ about re-enacting her own physical pain and spiritual journey for 300 people, eight performances a week.”