Beyoncé blasted from the speakers, as a mostly female audience filed into the University Club Feb. 17, waiting for the second showing of “The Vagina Monologues” to begin.
AU’s Women’s Initiative put on the play, which ran Feb. 16 to 18.
Eve Ensler wrote the Vagina Monologues in 1996 and productions of “The Vagina Monologues” occur worldwide each year between Feb. 1 and April 30 as part of the V-Day movement, which aims to prevent violence against women.
The play consisted of 20 monologues dealing with vagina-related issues ranging from shaving to rape.
While much of the show dealt with serious issues such as female genital mutilation and sexual abuse, even scenes that weren’t specifically about such serious topics triggered the emotions of audience members.
In one of the final monologues, “Renaming Cunt,” sophomore Starr Brainard played the role of a woman from Pittsburgh trying to bring back the c-word. At the end of her monologue she had the entire audience chanting “cunt, cunt, cunt” with her.
During the Friday night performance, she stopped the chanting and introduced her mom who was sitting in the audience that night. She then asked her mom to stand up and yell “cunt” with her. When she did, the audience reacted with cheers and applause.
Mica Brenman’s performance as a sex worker for women was also memorable as she spent the majority of her monologue demonstrating different types of moaning. She even included the American University moan, which involved her complaining about having to study and fawning over Tim McBride in the midst of her moans.
The three performances raised $3,744 for the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, the V-Day Foundation and Rachael’s Women’s Center.
