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| Tuesday, February 19, 2002 |
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'Monologues' bring laughter and tears to audience WRITER'S TITLE Can YOU spell vagina? By the end of "The Vagina Monologues," any member of the audience could probably tell you, not only how to spell it, but also what a vagina would say if it could talk and what it would wear if it could get dressed. The idea to bring "The Vagina Monologues" to SMU sprang from a creative collaboration between Sarah Thomas, a member of the Women's Center here at SMU, and Dr. Courtney Aberle, Coordinator of Women's Programs. Cast in Thanksgiving, a group of ten young women actresses were selected out of the many who auditioned. "We wanted a variety of women," said Sara Hoyer, director of "The Vagina Monologues" here on campus. "[Out] material is very challenging," Hoyer said. "It's very hard to say vagina at all much less talk about it, on stage, in front of so many people." "The Vagina Monologues" is exactly what the name suggests - a series of stories, based on over 200 interviews, in which women talk about the most secret part of their bodies. In her original press release, Eve Ensler, author of the Monologues, said: "I was worried about vaginas. I was worried about what we thought about vaginas, and even more worried that we don't think about them...So I decided to talk to women about their vaginas, to do vagina interviews, which became vagina monologues. I talked with hundreds of women. I talked to old women, young women, married women, single women, lesbians, college professors, actors, corporate professionals, sex workers, African American women, Hispanic women, Asian American women, Native American women, Caucasian women, Jewish women. At first, women were reluctant to talk. They were a little shy. But once they got going, you couldn't stop them." The monologues begin, "Let's just start with the word 'vagina.' It sounds like an infection at best, maybe a medical instrument...'Vagina.' Doesn't matter how many times you say it, it never sounds like a word you want to say. It's a totally ridiculous, completely unsexy word." Covering everything from female menstruation to thong underwear, Ensler's play covers anything even remotely related to a woman's vagina. In one monologue, a woman rants about tampons, describing them as "dry wads of cotton." The same woman decides she wants someone to design regular, cotton underwear with a French tickler so women can have random orgasms throughout the day. Many parts are humorous, such as this early riff on vaginas - "There's so much darkness and secrecy surrounding them - like the Bermuda Triangle. Nobody ever reports back from there." Other portions are disturbing, such as Bosnian refugee's story recounting the horrors of rape in war. "Not since the soldiers put a long thick rifle inside me...So cold, the steel rod canceling my heart. Don't know whether they're going to fire it or shove it through my spinning brain." The running order of "The Vagina Monologues" is: 1. Introduction 2. Hair (A monologue discussing pubic hair.) 3. If your vagina got dressed, what would it wear? (Women answered with pearls, a tutu, sweat pants, bikini, ermine, pink fluffy boas, an electric shock device to keep unwanted people and things from entering, silk, and see-through black lace panties.) 4. If your vagina could talk, what would it say? (Women answered with examples of cries of equal disgust and passion.) 5. The Flood 6. The Vagina Workshop 7. Vagina Fact - The Clitoris (The audience learns that a woman has over 8,000 nerves "down there," twice as many as a man.) 8. Because He Liked to Look at It 9. Vagina Fact - Genital Mutilation 10. My Angry Vagina 11. My Vagina was My Village (The heart-breaking story of a Bosnian woman's rape by 6 soldiers.) 12. The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could (A woman discovers she is a lesbian is a fully sexual way.) 13. What does your vagina smell like? 14. Reclaiming Cunt 15. I Asked a Six Year Old Girl 16. The Women who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy 17. I was there In the Room (A woman is present for her granddaughter's birth and is amazed by the vagina giving life before her.) 18. Faisal Halani, a junior psychology major, volunteered to help SMU's Women's Center in putting on the production of the monologues. His reaction after was the performance was one of surprise. "It gave me a totally eye opening feeling. Just trying to visualize the emotions expressed was amazing." Eric Knight, a senior theater major, performed "The Vagina Workshop." She saw the monologues performed last year and really wanted to be a part of SMU's performance. After the play's completion, she said, "I am really proud of all the money we raised. Being able to give all that money to The Family Place is really worth all the effort." Dr. Aberle was overwhelmed by how well her group of students had done. "They're an amazing group of women...They really all bonded together and deepened the power within themselves." Dr. Aberle also sought out the assistance of Cathey Soutter, from the SMU Counseling Center, who was on-hand after the performance to provide counseling. Women cried, laughed, nervously looked away, chanted along with the actresses, and thunderously applauded at the end as the actresses took their bows. This show is much more than the sum of its private parts. It grows into an uplifting reminder that the best place to start any exploration of humanity is with the way people really are.
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