This past weekend brought the return of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” to the Haverford campus. Presented by Women In Action in conjunction with the V-Day movement, twenty-two women performed the provocative sequence of monologues and ensemble pieces in the DC Black Box on Saturday and Sunday night. The production opened to a packed house (with many resorting to sitting on the floor) and a spirit of excitement surrounding the annual event. With vagina cupcakes, cute T Shirts and underwear being sold at the door, these ladies were raising funds, awareness, and enthusiasm for V-Day Haverford College.
The show opened with the cast filing in to surround the audience, expressing the group sentiment of being “worried about vaginas” and explaining the variety of sources the monologues derive from. By involving the entire cast and the audience in this introductory scene, which is originally written for three ensemble members, we became a part of the action and were brought into the world of the monologues. Throughout the production, the content was made accessible through the informal atmosphere and moments of audience participation, such as having everyone write down what their vagina (or penis) would wear and having the responses read by cast members. This made the production easy going and prevented it from taking itself too seriously in its lighter moments.
Throughout the piece, the actors held scripts to comply with the (unnecessarily) strict rules set by creator, Eve Ensler. Although I respect the production’s conformity to Ensler’s wishes, the scripts became a crutch in many of the monologues and felt like a wall between the actors and the audience. It left many potentially earnest moments unavailable and the production could have had a much stronger impact with a greater familiarity with the text. Two notable exceptions were My Angry Vagina and The Woman Who Liked to Make Vaginas Happy (known affectionately as The Moaner). These are arguably the most famous of all the monologues and really require a strong audience connection in order to be effective. Both ladies were very comfortable with their texts and gave confident, exuberant performances as a result. Other notable monologues were I Was There In The Room, The Flood, and an added monologue based on Ensler’s book I am an Emotional Creature.
The production supported the V-Day global activist movement to end violence against women, championed the One Billion Rising event, and all proceeds benefited Women Against Abuse, a nonprofit agency in Philadelphia that provides services for victims of domestic violence. Weren’t able to make the performances, but still want to donate? You can do so here at Women Against Abuse or contact Maisy Hughes (mhughes@haverford.edu) for more information.