The Vagina Monologues Director and sophomore theater student Daniel Ellis said that every great production should be able to be defined by one line from the script. Ellis said the line that best embodies Vagina Monologues is, "I love vaginas, I love women, I do not see them as separate things."
The monologues have been performed for the past three years at Longwood. They were first put on by a Greek organization in conjunction with the theater department, then revived last year by Carisa Ruf and produced by the Alpha Psi Omega (APO) theater fraternity. This year, it will again be produced by APO and directed by sophomore theater student Daniel Ellis.
Ellis said, ""It's really an enlightening show and a great experience."
Started by Eve Ensler, the monologues are part of the V Day campaign, an activist movement to stop violence against women and girls while promoting awareness and raising money. Every year they have a spotlight project where they focus on a different part of the world or crisis. Last year's spotlight project was the Democratic Republic of Congo and this year's project is Haiti.
The V Day Movement requires a lot of rules to be followed concerning the Monologues. Auditions are not exclusive to actors; everyone is invited to audition, even professors. Also, whoever auditions must be involved in the show in some way. If they're not cast, then they have to be offered some sort of position.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing a lot of new involvement. This isn't a theater thing, this is a women thing," Ellis said.
Associate Professor of Theatre Pamela Arkin said that the faculty is hands-off. "It's all student generated and student run. They're the ones who came up with the idea to do it again, they're acting it, directing it, making props, making costumes . It's all student work. We aren't telling anyone how to do it."
Arkin said, "It could be terrible, but it's theirs. Or it could be wonderful, and it's theirs. I'm hoping that it's a brilliant success."
Arkin said that the monologues are shocking, but educational. "It's important to become educated. If you're on a university campus, some of the things may be shocking to you - against your religion or your value system - but still the underlying information is important to discuss."
Arkin reflected on her participation in the women's movement throughout the years. "Every generation of young women has embraced this as their discovery."
She said, "I've changed my viewpoints on things - not drastically, but somewhat. It's through awareness of living and hearing about other cultures and people and events that have happened. That's how I've learned and grown. It's an important thing to learn."
Ellis is taking this year's production of the monologues in a different direction than in prior years.
"In the past, it's mostly been about female genitalia," Ellis said, "but I wanted it to be about women; their experiences with sex, their experiences with other women, their experiences with men, their experiences within their lives. We can learn a lot from each other that way."
Senior Karah Morgan participated in the monologues last year and is in the cast again this year. "In the theater department, the Vagina Monologues is the thing that everyone wants to do ... It was really cool to say vagina on stage and not be judged for it."
Morgan said, "I really hope that it opens discussion; that it forces people to talk about issues you usually skirt around."
Ellis encourages everyone to come out to see the monologues. Everyone is welcome: communication students, psychology students, art students, etc. They are even incorporating student art, which will be hanging behind the cast on the stage. The artwork will reflect different aspects of femininity.
The Vagina Monologues will be taking place in the Communications Studies building's Lab Theatre February 11 and 12 at 7 p.m. and February 13 at 3 p.m. Tickets will be $2.
Ellis added, "The purpose of theater is to educate and entertain, but this has a third purpose. It is to raise awareness and to stop the 'femicide' that is occurring all over the world.
