Eve Ensler's provocative show, "The Vagina Monologues," will make audiences laugh, cry, and think as it graces the stage of Kresge Auditorium tonight and tomorrow.
Initially performed by Ensler in 1996, the show is made up of a number of monologues all relating to vaginas in one way or another—through sex, masturbation, birth, rape, menstruation, orgasm, or imaginative things it would wear or say. Ensler wrote the monologues after interviewing more than 200 women, and as a result, the monologues represent experiences of women of different ethnicities, classes, interests, and sexualities.
In 1998, Ensler started V-Day, a worldwide organization that works to end violence against women. Intimately tied to "The Vagina Monologues," 10 percent of the proceeds from all shows go to V-Day and the remaining 90 percent go to a local organization which, at Bowdoin, is Sexual Assault Services of Midcoast Maine (SASMM).
"Every year there are different people on Bowdoin's campus. On top of that, there are only 290 seats in Kresge, so we have different people coming," said Ashley Fischer '09, one of the four directors. "Most importantly, sexual assault and rape are issues that people should be concerned about. It is important to remember that rape doesn't only happen outside of the United States-it happens on Bowdoin's campus, too."
In the past, "The Vagina Monologues" has been criticized for potentially portraying men in a negative light.
"Many men are offended by 'The Vagina Monologues.' They think it's a criticism of them or that it's a man-hating session," said Margie Cooper '10, who is acting in this year's production of the monolgues.
"Other feminists claim that it's not a play about men. In reality, it is a play that involves men—they are implicated in it—but only women's voices are heard," Cooper added.
"It's called 'The Vagina Monologues'—it's a play by women, for women. It's not saying that every man is a bad man, it's showing that these particular women had bad experiences with specific men," Fischer said.
Every year, V-Day spotlights a different region in the world. Ensler writes a specific monologue about the chosen location, and V-Day focuses resources and media attention on that spot.
This year's global spotlight is titled "Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource: Power to the Women and Girls of the Democratic Republic of Congo," calling attention to the rampant atrocities committed against women and girls in the eastern Congo.
In the Congo, rape is used as a systematic tactic of war, and thousands of women and girls are raped each year.
Many are raped so brutally that a hole called a fistula forms between the vaginal walls and the bladder or the rectum.
Ensler has highlighted Dr. Denis Mukwege, a man who has been repairing their broken bodies. He started as the sole doctor at Panzi Hospital performing these surgeries, and has since trained four others who, combined, perform 1,000 fistula repairs a year.
Through V-Day, Ensler is drawing attention to the little-publicized genocide in the Congo, according to Fischer.
"The New York Times had never published a front page article on the Congo until this year. There is a mass genocide going on there and no one even knows about it. I'm really excited that V-Day is getting people talking," Fischer said.
In addition to "The Vagina Monologues," V-Day at Bowdoin has also been responsible for Take Back the Night, a march protesting rape and gender-based violence, and Speak, a collection of sexual experiences from Bowdoin students that will be available at the show.
According to Fischer, another show called "A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer" might also be in the works. It would be much less formal than "The Vagina Monologues," but it has roles for men and encourages male participation, since people of both genders are inevitably affected by violence against women.
"If nothing else, go because the issues are important to your friends who are in it and that should be reason enough to go. If you see it and you hate it, then that's fine. But don't think that because the word 'vagina' is in the title that it is no way applicable to your life," Cooper said, addressing men who are uneasy about attending the show.
"It is important to your friends, so it should be important to you too," Cooper added.
"The Vagina Monologues" will be performed today and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium. Admission to the show is $5 and tickets are available at the Smith Union Info Desk. The show is open to the public.