For years the Vagina Monologues have been inspiring powerful women at Connecticut College, and all over the globe, by sharing stories about sexuality and womanhood. This year, the women at Conn have decided to mix it up by creating their own set of empowering monologues! The best part is that anyone can contribute! If you are interested in getting involved, or just curious about the change, check out what PR maven, Hannah Boal, has to say about the new As Told by Vaginas.
Who can contribute, or how can you get involved?
We’re encouraging anyone from the Conn community to get involved with As Told by Vaginas, mainly by submitting original monologues! We want the submissions to have as few limitations as possible–monologues just have to be 800 words or fewer. They are due on November 1st–no exceptions! People can write and/or act in the show; auditions are incredibly low key and fun, so it’s nothing to be nervous about. We also still have some leadership positions available if people want to be involved with the behind-the-scenes stuff.
How is this going to be different from Vagina Monologues?
Essentially, everything from now until auditions is completely different from the original Vagina Monologues. From auditions onward though, it’s going to be virtually the same. We decided last year that we wanted to represent OUR voices, rather than read the same script year after year. The previous content didn’t reflect our experiences as much as we would like. Because The Vagina Monologues is an official production, we couldn’t keep some and discard the rest, so in making this change we are starting from scratch. It will be a brand new show this year, and it will evolve and change in years to come. We are calling on any and all Conn students, alumni, faculty, staff, and members of the New London community to send us their experiences (including men!). We’re looking for anything within the realm of the “female experience”. After November 1st, the reading committee will gather to go over the monologues and assemble a script. There will be edits, and from there the final version will be put together for the show. After that, we will have auditions just after winter break, and the show will proceed as it has in years past, complete with cast bonding, and events surrounding the show. The production will be on February 20th and 21st. The time commitment is limited; it’s really just the week leading up to the show that requires big chunks of time for the women in the cast.
Who are the ladies involved so far?
Bettina Weiss and Alix Israel are producing the show, so they’re the ones people should be getting in touch with. Other than the two of them and myself, Alexis Adams-Clark, Aline Feijo, Anna Marshall, Ayla Zuraw-Friedland, Dana Sorkin, Emma Weisberg, Fara Rodriguez, Hayley Smith, Juliette Verrengia, Kaitlin McDonagh, Kate Torrey, Leah Mendelson, Mattie Barber-Bockelman, Rachel Maddox, Sarah Treaster, and Sophia Delevie-Orey comprise the leadership committee!
So what else do we need to know?
We have waivers on our Facebook page which people need to fill out if they’re writing a monologue, so we can know if they want to remain anonymous. Our goal is to respect everyone’s privacy. There is no limit to the number of monologues one person may submit. Once the monologues are chosen, no one outside the reading committee will know who wrote each monologue. All of the monologues chosen will be kept on file for years to come so they can be potentially included in a future show.
It’s going to be an incredible experience; we’re truly making Conn history! It is going to be really magical hearing our own experiences being voiced in this context for the first time. I encourage everyone to get involved in some way, shape, or form!