Vagina Monologues provides education, insight

'You'll leave the theatre wanting to change the world.'

By Eva Dou

Published March 2, 2009

The performance started just like the rehearsals: with everyone yelling, "Vagina."

After this ritual, the stories began.

MU's eighth annual performance of the Vagina Monologues drew a near-capacity crowd Saturday at Jesse Auditorium, with lines of students snaking down the halls before doors opened at 6:30 p.m.

The 35 performers talked about sex and love, menstruation and birth, rape and genital mutilation. Playwright Eve Ensler wrote the monologues in 1996 based on her interviews with 200 women.

The crowd broke out in thunderous laughter when four-year veteran Lindsay Toler, a senior, took the stage as a sizzling sex worker whose goal is to give women orgasms. Flinging back a long curtain of blonde hair, Toler emitted a spectrum of orgasmic moans, imitating the different women her character had known.

Toler said the role challenged her because she wasn't used to acting overtly sexual.

"That's what 'The Vagina Monologues' do," she said. "They challenge the idea of what it means to be a woman."

Toler is a former member of The Maneater staff.

Cast members said the in-your-face monologues force audience members and actors alike to reconsider their views of female sexuality. One monologue relates a woman's efforts to reclaim the word "cunt" from its demeaning connotations. Another talks about a woman's struggles about whether to shave her pubic hair. Several are about rape or domestic violence.

Adviser Struby Struble said she hoped the show would educate audience members about gendered violence and inspire them to action.

"What we wrote in the blurb is, 'You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll leave the theater wanting to change the world,' and that is what we're hoping for," Struble said.

Junior Erik DeLaney said he was surprised by how blunt the monologues were.

"It was a fun time, although there are a few awkward moments if you are a guy," DeLaney said.

Volunteers stationed outside of the auditorium sold vagina-shaped chocolate lollipops and buttons during intermission and after the performance.

Proceeds of the show, about $8,000, go toward The Shelter and the Leadership through Education and Advocacy for the Deaf Institute. The Shelter is a Boone County organization for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The L.E.A.D. Institute serves Missourians who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Activism is a theme on and off stage. Some actresses were motivated to volunteer after their experience in the show.

Education Committee chairwoman Alyssa Ruth said she became a peer educator with the campus Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center.

"We give presentations to any campus organizations that request them," she said.

Following her first year in the show, Toler was motivated to work with victims of sexual assault and domestic violence at The Shelter. As an advocate for the victims, her job is to talk to the women and advise them on their options.

"I realized that as long as the violence continues, I want to be the shoulder for these women to lean on," Toler said.

Struble said she sees the 35 actors in the show as ambassadors for these issues, so it is important they become knowledgeable about them.

Each week, the rehearsal room became a classroom. Speakers talked to the cast about topics ranging from female modesty in other cultures to sexual anatomy.

At the final rehearsal, a week ago, the topic was female orgasms. Members of the Sexual Health Advocate Peer Education came to lead the discussion.

Cast members joined in, relating their own experiences and asking questions. Toler said the discussions are a safe space, which means participants can speak freely, knowing their words will not leave the discussion circle.

"I think of it as my group therapy for the week," said Ruth, who helps plan the discussions.

Cast member Danielle Albertina said the discussion sessions were empowering.

"I came away from every rehearsal feeling more secure and better about being a woman," she said.

Unlike many shows, participation in the Vagina Monologues is open to everyone. If more students are interested than there are parts, the parts are divided so everyone can join in.

"Our numbers fluctuate every year, but I just love that everyone gets in," Ruth said.

The show has a new monologue this year, which highlights sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 300,000 women and girls have been raped in the country's civil war.

Ruth and her co-chairwoman Rachael Chait presented the new monologue, "Baptized," which relates Ensler's encounter with an 8-year-old girl who had been repeatedly raped during two weeks in a military camp.

"It is an important topic, although, unfortunately, it is not a new idea at all for rape to be used as a weapon of war," Ruth said.

The show has a different spotlight topic each year, which is determined by the V-Day foundation. V-Day is a global movement established in 1998 to stop violence against women and girls.

Toler said through the monologues, she discovered a community passionate about women's issues.

"This was where I found the power of a group of women working toward a common goal," she said.