Vagina Monologues Continues V-Day Tradition

by Christina Morgan

The annual production of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues occured once again this past Wednesday in Finney Chapel. The production, which is part of Ensler’s V-Day, a movement to end violence against girls and women world-wide, consisted of traditional Vagina Monologue material along with four new pieces all written by first-year Shahana Siddiqui.
Ensler’s piece covers highly sensitive material such as sexual abuse, rape and genital mutilation. However, the Vagina Monologues also seek to illustrate the beauty of female sexuality and dislodge the shame from an often taboo subject. Wednesday night’s performance, directed by sophomore Lara Dredge, was a spirited yet uneven production. 

The evening began with an unusual twist, as members of the production called for the audience to sit on the stage. The monologues were delivered from a stoop centered in the middle of the crowd. This design created an intimate setting, but proved to be a hindrance to the show as at times it allowed for the performers to turn their backs on sections of the audience, leaving parts of the script inaudible. 
The Vagina Monologues opened with pieces such as “Hair” which tells the tale of a woman asked to shave her vagina by her adulterous husband, and “My Vagina Was My Village,” a story of sexual abuse in war-torn Bosnia.
“My Vagina Was My Village” took an interesting turn as the monologue was split up into two parts. Two performers linked arms as one reported life before the brutal systematic rapes and one life after. Although Ensler’s words are gut wrenching in themselves, the performances did not convincingly convey the destruction felt by someone subjected to such a horrible experience.

One of the evening’s most well-written pieces was not one of Ensler’s but rather Siddiqui’s “An Ode to Sally Hemmings.” This ode concerned the sexualization of African-American women’s bodies. The cleverly written piece raised important issues, such as the fact that Hemmings (a slave of Thomas Jefferson) was a victim of rape, not a willing participant in a love affair. While “An Ode to Sally Hemmings” drew nods of appreciation from audience members, the piece was read largely off a piece of paper, which took away from the strength of the words.
The second half of the Vagina Monologues dealt mostly with dislodging the shame from female sexuality. Pieces such as “Entering Into Vaginas,” and “Because He Like to Look at It,” accomplished this through playfully addressing lesbianism and the story of a man who loved to stare at his lover’s vagina. 
This section of the show is also known for the pieces “The Woman Who Liked to Make Vaginas Happy” and “Reclaiming Cunt,” both of which are designed to hysterically bring the house down. While both pieces were well-received, the audience reaction was not off the charts, as people continued to leave the show early throughout the night.

A highlight of the second half was again another one of Siddiqui’s monologues. “?” was a piece designed to make the audience think about the motive and process behind Ensler’s famous monologues. The piece was performed extremely well and raised the point that Ensler’s piece might not be applicable to all women. 
This past Valentine’s Day prduction was not the most balanced of shows, but Ensler’s powerful content combined with fresh new pieces from Siddiqui, rounded out the evening quite well.