Vagina takes center stage

Abby Loomis Guest Writer

It's the second night of The Vagina Monologues rehearsals, and the 18 person, all-female cast has just finished running through a monologue. The contents are chilling: the actors tell the true story of the “comfort women,” women forced into sex slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. They sit in a large circle, and co-directors Lauren Spencer ’06 and Debbie Unger ’06 begin the discussion. “We're completely open,” says Spencer. “What did you think about the piece?”

Sara Mason ’08 speaks up. “One thing I remember about last year,” she says, “is when the movement is super of-the-moment, there's a risk that most of us will do the same thing.”

Mason’s comment is harmless enough, but alludes to a much larger challenge facing the directors and actors in the play. The Vagina Monologues has been performed at Vassar since 1998, and much of the audience at this year's show will most likely have seen last year's sold-out production. Spencer and Unger know firsthand what kind of expectations await them: Unger has served as stage-manager of the show since her freshman year, and Spencer has acted in the show for just as long.

“The fact that we've been involved in it for three years and come from these different points of view is very useful,” said Unger. “The beauty of doing it every year is that you can build and change with time.”

Getting men to attend a play about vaginas is one of Spencer and Unger's chief goals this year.
“Particularly the last few years, it's not been male-friendly,” Unger said. “Men are a part of our lives.”

In order to reach a larger array of Vassar students, including those without vaginas, the directors have come up with a variety of strategies: they are losing the pink that adorned last year's set (in favor of abstract vaginal paintings by Jorge Gomez ’09) and enlisting a number of men behind the scenes.

“They've had all women working on it [in the past],” said Spencer. “There are men who would love to be involved. Our light, sound, production and set designers are all men.”

The directors are also attempting to remind all students of the show's importance as a groundbreaking social commentary. Alice Royer ’06, acting in the play for her second year, admitted that the play may seem a little less revolutionary than it did in 1996, when it was first performed. “It's dated in terms of the fact that it came out pre-Sex and the City, which, like it or not, revolutionized feminism,” she said. “It's hard to put up a show and make it have contemporary resonance.”

Kat Kitlas ’06 cited Ensler's continous additions to the show as a way to ensure such resonance. “She keeps it updated, not letting it stagnate,” said Kitlas. “It's very pertinent today.”

Kitlas’ main role in the show is actually in one of the optional monologues that Ensler has added to the play since its debut. The monologue, comprised of interviews with transgender women, is called “They beat the girl out of my boy,” and has never been performed at Vassar. Spencer and Unger emphasized this monologue as an example of the play's continuing evolution and relevance.

“It's not just about Vassar," Royer said. “It's about the ‘comfort women,’ the transgender women. Eve Ensler writes that it will keep going until violence against women doesn't exist. I don't see that happening anytime soon.”

It is for that reason that the show is paired up with V-week, a week to address and deal with issues regarding violence against women. Regardless, the definitive centerpiece of the week is The Vagina Monologues. Not only is it always highly attended, it is also a huge source of funds that go towards efforts to stop violence against women. Last year the show raised $2,000 for the Grace Smith House, a domestic violence shelter in Poughkeepsie. This year, the directors are shooting for $3,000 and accepting suggestions for fund recipients. With all the challenges that lay ahead of them in the short time before the show opens, the directors haven't forgotten why they got involved in the first place.

“It is such an important issue, and the process of the show is so amazing,” said Unger. “As hectic as it is, it's fun.”

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Sam Rosen-Amy/The Miscellany News