The Women's Initiative brings empowerment and self-understanding to the stage this Thursday, Friday and Saturday in its presentation of "The Vagina Monologues."
The play, written by Eve Ensler and codirected by Vanessa Mueller, arts editor for The Eagle and a junior in the School of Public Affairs, and Nicky Smolter, a second-year graduate student in SPA, powerfully expresses women's perspectives on issues pertinent to them, including sexuality, war and abuse.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the piece is the range of emotion it draws from the audience. From gut-wrenching tears to side-splitting laughter, it can all be found in the "Monologues."
The production starts on a comical note, priming the pump for the hilarity that is about to ensue. The play maintains an air of light-hearted female solidarity until the focus turns to extremely serious issues in scenes entitled "A Not So Happy Fact" and "They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy."
The actresses successfully navigate the delicate transition from comedy to tragedy and passionately convey the true grief women around the world feel as a direct result of female genital mutilation and misunderstood sexuality.
This year's "Monologues" focuses on women in war-torn regions of the globe through scenes titled "My Vagina was My Village" and the "2007 Spotlight Monologue," both of which raise awareness of sexual abuse and communicate its effects so vividly that the audience can do nothing but cry or sit silently in its sorrow.
The women involved in the show recognize the challenge of confronting such sensitive issues.
"The first time I saw the show was easily the most uncomfortable night of my life," Pooja Virani, a School of International Service and College of Arts and Sciences senior, said.
"It's helping me talk about things I wouldn't normally talk about," she said.
More than expressing the problems of downtrodden women around the world, the play relays the everyday thoughts and desires of women as only a woman could. Han Chen, a SIS freshman, is simultaneously hilarious, cynical and truthful in "My Angry Vagina." Laiah Idelson, a School of Communication sophomore, is girlishly innocent and hysterical in "We Did It," and Sara Farizan, a SOC senior, is disarmingly matter-of-factly in "The Woman Who Liked to Make Vaginas Happy."
"My Short Skirt" is a grown-up version of the Spice Girls' girl power era many current college students grew up with. In it, Jessica Schiaretti, a SOC and SPA senior, expresses that her skirt "has nothing to do with you" and that her skirt "and everything under it is [hers]." This empowering piece brings strength to the stereotypically girlish, submissive nature women are expected to possess, and Schiaretti shines with confidence and sass.
The play ends on a poignant note, as Genny Ramos, a SOC senior, recounts a tale of childbirth. Each of the women in the show does a spectacular job conveying the many facets of womanhood, and the bare stage forces viewers to confront what is there: A woman who is proud of who she is and one who is learning to be comfortable with what she is.
Most importantly, the show isn't centered on a man-hating, ostracizing brand of feminism.
"Every day is the penis monologues. [This play] is kind of showing guys we're in touch with our genitals too," Cee-Cee Swalling, a sophomore in CAS, said.
Idelson said the show is "a positive thing for men to see because this kind of discourse isn't encouraged. Whether it's a brother, boyfriend, friend or father, [the play] opens up conversation"
