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Can you say vagina? If a vagina could talk, what would it say? If a vagina got dressed, what would it wear? These questions and more were answered this past weekend during performances of The Vagina Monologues that ran February 14 thru the 16 at the Playhouse.
The play, known round the world for it’s strong representation of feminism, became the project of Producer and senior Liberal Studies major, Cassia Herron.
“Last summer I met an amazing woman who introduced me to The Vagina Monologues,” said Herron who then went on the read the book by Eve Ensler’s. She wanted to share this book, this production with the students at the University of Louisville. “Being a victim of a domestic dispute with an ex-boyfriend, I know first hand the psychology effects of abuse. I saw this (the production) as an opportunity to reach out to college men and educate them not only about the cycle of abuse, but to help them understand women’s struggles for dignity and self-respect.”
Herron then met up with Lessa Wilson, a sophomore Fine Arts major, someone with the same passion to bring The Vagina Monologues to campus, took on the role as the Director.
Like Herron, Wilson wanted to bring the play to U of L with the intention of pulling together a diverse crowd of women to tell the stories.
“I wanted women who were not necessarily actresses, but who could do justice to the women’s stories shared with us through Eve Ensler’s Script,” said Wilson. Diversity is just what they got. Cast members came from diverse backgrounds and different interests. They all came together for one purpose – to help other women discover the power within.
“To me, this play is a strong reminder of the disparity that exists in our culture concerning the ownership of one’s sexuality and the use of taboos to reinforce this disparity,” said Katrina Marie Rowe Butcher, a senior a double major in Medieval and Renaissance Culture and English. Butcher performed the monologue ” He liked to look at it.”
Audience members were blown away by the performance as much as the cast members.
“It was a strong representation of women,” said Rachel Hungerbuhler a freshman Theater major. “Being a woman and seeing the play made me feel really happy that I had a vagina. It made me feel very powerful and strong.”
U of L’s performance of The Vagina Monologues coincided with other productions across the country as a part of a College Campaign as well as the International Stop Rape Contest, the Rape Free Zone Campaign, the Stand Up with V-Day among others. V-Day, a non-profit organization, is to make people aware of the oppression of women, such as those that are living in harsh conditions in Afghanistan. The money that V-Day raises is given directly to grassroots, national and international organizations and programs to help battle and stop the violence against women. This production of The Vagina Monologues was sponsored by the Student Government Association, Student Activities Board, Student Life, the Office of the Provost, The College of Education, and the College of Nursing, as well as several national sponsors. Proceeds from this performance went to the Center of Women and Families. Ten Percent went to help the suffering women in Afghanistan.
“The Vagina Monologues project pulls us all together and helps us to visualize how our struggles as women as similar and aids us in empowering and liberating ourselves,” said Herron. “If by working on this project and searching for my own womanhood and identity, a woman who has never mustered the word ‘vagina’ aloud fins the strength to do so, I will feel totally satisfied in knowing that I aided her in the process while helping myself.”
