Controversy draws a crowd at ‘Vagina Monologues’

It was standing room only at Ya Ya’s Coffeehouse on Saturday night. And they were there to hear the testament to the lives of women.

“The Vagina Monologues” is not your typical play — it has no plot, no music, no staging.  And it addresses a body part that, 30 years after the sexual revolution, people are still embarrassed to talk about. But the show relies on compelling stories that blend together into a quilt of feminine experiences. The production was performed by members of Idyllwild-based Isis Theatre Co., which is on its eighth season and run by Valle Vista resident Suzanne Avalon.

As the introduction monologue explained, “women secretly love to talk about their vaginas, mostly because nobody ever talks about them at all.”

The majority of the play was dedicated to stories from women whom writer Eva Ensler had interviewed.  No two experiences were the same.  They were funny, sad, shocking and inspiring.

But “The Vagina Monologues” has something every woman or man can relate to.  Although some of the monologues echo ideas from radical-feminist writings of the 70s, these are not theoretical arguments, but rather personal reflections.  They are not against men, and the use of humor makes the monologues more convincing.

For example, in the humorous monologue “The Flood”, a 72 year old woman had “locked her store and closed it for business” after she had “flooded” on a first date in her teenage years.  She then revealed her Burt Reynolds fantasies and how they were always interrupted by her “flood” and the other restaurant guests would “swim away in it.”

On the other hand, the monologue “The Vagina Was My Village” explored the mass rape of Bosnian women as an instrument of war. The woman contrasted her perception of her vagina before and after being gang-raped and tortured for days.  Her “live, wet, water village” had been “butchered…they invaded it, and all the crops died.”

Though much of the play is based on the comedy of what it means to be a woman, the serious topics are raised in graphic detail. Eve Ensler, a victim of rape herself, strives to push these issues to the forefront of social awareness, hoping to change the way society reacts towards feminine sexuality.

Rebecca De Roche, Woman #3 in the play, said one of the problems is that women put their guard up.  “I don’t think that many women are in touch with their femininity or sexuality,” De Roche said.

Between the monologues are “vagina facts.” One of those facts shared was that, in Africa, an estimated 92 million girls from ten years of age and above have undergone genital mutilation, a violation of human rights.  Another fact shared was that 500,000 women are raped in the United States every year.

Pat Dooley, the executive director of C.A.S.A, Center Against Sexual Assault, which received all the proceeds of the show, said that with the help of the cast and crew of “The Vagina Monologues,” they can build awareness to these shocking facts and help create healthy relationships.

“There are so many movies and songs about disrespecting women right now,” said Dooley.  “We’re trying to reverse what people think and step forward for women’s respect.”

Marissa Kerby is a regular contributor to SWRNN.com.

Tags: Eve Ensler, isis theatre company, Marissa Kerby, Pat Dooley, Rebecca De Roche, SWRNN, The Vagina Monologues, Ya Ya Coffeehouse

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 14th, 2010 at 11:24 am and is filed under Arts & Entertainment, Local News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.