Playwright Eve Ensler, who cemented the Off-Broadway success of her play The Vagina Monologues by performing the entire work herself, will return to the piece for brief two-week runs in Boston and Washington, D.C. A press statement trumpets the mini-tour as Ensler's "final engagement" in Monologues.

The show will play Boston's Wilbur Theatre Jan. 8-20 and D.C.'s National Theatre Jan. 22-Feb. 3.

In early, benefit presentations of Monologues, Ensler corralled a host of stars to act the work, a collection of interviews with women discussing their attitude towards and experiences with the title body part. But when the show opened at the Westside Theatre Oct. 3, 1999, it was Ensler herself who headlined. After several months, she relinquished the production to an ever-changing series of acting trios, often drawing on the star actresses who performed the piece in previous one-night-only benefits. Ensler later went on to act in mountings of Monologues in Chicago and San Francisco. A Los Angeles outing at the Canon Theatre ended on Dec. 2 after a run of more than a year.

Tickets for Boston are currently on sale and available through Ticketmaster at (617) 931-2787, or at the Wilbur Theatre box office, 246 Tremont St.

* Ensler's latest play, Necessary Targets, opened at Hartford Stage on Nov. 23. Producers are now looking to bring it to Off-Broadway.

—By Robert Simonson