Eric Walker
Equinox Staff
“The Vagina Monologues,” a play that Keene State College students have performed every year since 2001, took over the Mabel Brown Room of the student center.
The event went on for two nights this past weekend in order to raise money for a good cause.
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The play is composed of 18 vignettes, all performed by one or more women.
The topics of each section range from pubic hair to genital mutilation and rape.
Although very serious topics are explored, the majority of the play is written in a comical manner.
“The Vagina Monologues,” written by Eve Ensler, was originally performed as a one women show in 1997, by the playwright herself.
Ensler interviewed over 200 women for the writing of the play.
Each of the 18 sections are either based on one women’s story, or inspired by a number of experiences women shared with Ensler in the interviews.
“The Vagina Monologues” is part of V-Day, a global activist movement dealing with violence against women. In 1998 Ensler and a group of women from New York started V-Day after Ensler realized the success of “The Vagina Monologues” could help make real change. According to the official V-Day website, “V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations.”
The V in V-Day stands for victory, valentine, and vagina. In its 11 years V-Day has raised over $85 million.
A first-person account of a Bosnian woman’s experience being tortured and raped for multiple days is one of the most grim and powerful sections of the play.
Two women performed the piece by going back and forth, one playing the part of the pre-rape personality, and one playing the post-rape victim, displaying how sex crimes can emotionally destroy a person.
The play became extremely graphic at points, and did not shy away from being politically incorrect, with one of the stories dealing with a young lesbian’s consensual underage seduction by an older woman.
There is one monologue based on a woman who decided to leave her career as a lawyer to become a prostitute who works exclusively with women.
There is also one which names and performs every type of moan, one which is a speech regarding the C word, and one is the playwright herself’s first-person account of witnessing her daughter-in-law give birth.
Casey Wanger, the director of KSC’s production of “The Vagina Monologues,” said, “I want people to actually think about the show when they leave and think about the issues and topics that we talked about.”
Wanger acted in the play her freshman and sophomore years, then was asked to become the assistant director when she was a junior.
She took over directing duties this year, as well as acting in the play.
Wanger also said she was a little afraid that some of the topics would make the audience uncomfortable, for instance when the entire cast is screaming “the C word” at the audience, but the crowd, especially Saturday night, was very responsive and enthusiastic.
All of the proceeds of this year’s performances will benefit the Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention, which assists victims of domestic and sexual violence through crisis intervention, peer support, court advocacy, and safe housing.
They have a 24- hour crisis hotline with trained intervention workers.
Cast member Sarah Wolff said that not only is “The Vagina Monologues” a great cause, but it’s also a lot of fun at the same time.
This was Wolff’s second year performing in the play.
The Women’s Studies Program, the Women’s Studies Council, KSC Pride, and the Feminist Collective all sponsored the event.
“The Vagina Monologues” will be performed at colleges around the country during the weeks surrounding Valentine’s Day this year.
The cast started work on the play a couple weeks before winter break, according to cast member Dorothy England.
Alyson Rollins, an audience member and communications major at Keene State College, said the cast was very comfortable on stage and did a great job of improvising during pauses or mistakes.
Sophomore cast member Johanna DeDari said, “Just being a part of the show, I instantly felt a lot more confident, and I thought that I was pretty comfortable with myself already, but I mean I guess getting up in front of a bunch of people and talking about vaginas does that to you.”
DeDari had never acted before and was a last minute replacement for a cast member that couldn’t make it to the Friday performance.
She had seen the play live three times in the past and already loved it.
After her experience, which she described as “a high I’ve never felt in my life,” she is hoping to take part in the play again next year.
She said although some people consider it difficult subject matter, it wasn’t hard for her to talk about in front of an audience because she is so passionate about the issues.
Eric Walker can be contacted at ewalker2@ksc.mailcruiser.com