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This year, the Student Women’s Association’s annual production of “The Vagina Monologues” will have a new aesthetic and a new spotlight cause — ending violence against women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Eve Ensler first performed “The Vagina Monologues” to a sold-out theater in 1998. Since then the monologues have developed into the V-Day movement, a global effort holding benefit performances. The spotlight issue, or main cause that V-Day benefits, changes every year. This year the spotlight is on the Democratic Republic of Congo, where women face sexual slavery and violence every day. Proceeds will help build a facility in Bukavu, DRC called the City of Joy that will provide support for survivors of sexual violence.
The Student Women’s Association produces “The Vagina Monologues” every year and finished casting in December. The show traditionally sells out Room 100 in the Donald P. Corbett Business Building and will be performed Feb. 12 and 13 at 7 p.m. A portion of the proceeds goes to fund the V-Day movement. The remainder is distributed to local charities including Spruce Run, Rape Response Services and the Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center.
“The Vagina Monologues” has evolved over the years. Eve Ensler added a monologue about the birth of her grandchild and has created several optional monologues. The directors choose one or two optional monologues to include each year. Third-year creative writing major Aya Mares and graduate human development major Rahzell Sutton are this year’s co-directors. This year’s optional monologues are a piece about a transgendered person and a piece about violence toward Muslim women in the Middle East.
“The Vagina Monologues” planning committee, along with the directors, chose a new approach for creating their set this year. Each member of the cast will contribute an item or material that is representative of their character and use them to construct a fiber art vagina for the stage backdrop. Mares said the experience of creating the set is representative of “The Vagina Monologues.” She said fiber art is a traditional, communal activity for women.
“For me it speaks to the feminist reclamation of the fiber arts, where it had been seen as such a stuffy act for a while,” she said.
The group has prepared a PowerPoint presentation about the history of the monologues to play as people find their seats. The local charities benefiting from the performance will have tables outside the auditorium for attendees to learn more about the cause. SWA’s table will be playing a documentary about women’s issues in the DRC.
Mares and Sutton said the purpose of the monologues is to inform the community and raise awareness about violence against women around the world. “The Vagina Monologues” have been a tradition at UMaine for eleven years, but Mares hopes they haven’t lost their impact.
“It’s important to remember that right now, there are still many ears that have to hear these stories,” Mares said.
Mares also noted “The Vagina Monologues” has evolved since 1998 and become the foundation for the V-Day movement.
“Before it was more about Eve Ensler with her bob hair cut and her red lipstick talking about vaginas, now it’s about affecting change,” Mares said.
Sutton hopes the audience is affected by how candid and genuine the monologues are.
“They all are a story of a woman’s experience, whether she was a sex worker or abused as a child or a victim of genital mutilation,” she said.
“The Vagina Monologues” has been subject to criticism since the first production and is often labeled as scandalous for scandal’s sake.
“I hear people say that we’re just going to be sitting around talking about our vaginas and not doing anything productive,” Mares said. “This is activist theatre. It’s getting the issues out there and raising money; it is doing something,” she said.
Second year women’s studies and sociology student Mary Callaway, co-chair of SWA, says the show makes some people uncomfortable. Others are uncomfortable with the chocolate vulvas SWA sells to promote the monologues.
Callaway said, “I’ve been tabling for the last week, and it’s interesting to see people’s responses. If they’re with friends they feel uncomfortable stopping. Others giggle and move on. Some people even come up and say ‘this is inappropriate.’”
She thinks this discomfort is one of the issues women face today.
“If we’re not okay talking about vaginas, then we’re not going to be OK with talking about how women are being raped or abused, and no one is doing anything about it,” Callaway said.
She thinks this taboo stems from a bias in our society.
“There’s this anti-feminist thing among the generation of women who probably have benefited most from feminism,” she said. She thinks feminism is an important part of the monologues and that they are not just about affecting global change, but about building a sense of community and shared experience between women everywhere.
Callaway hopes members of the UMaine community will learn from the production.
“The way that people learn things is by coming out of their comfort zone,” Callaway said. “So if you’re one of those people who came by the table and snickered with their friends, challenge that for one night and see if you learn something.”
Tickets are $6 for students and $8 for non-students. SWA will be selling tickets in the Memorial Union until the production, or attendees can purchase them at the door.
