Vagina Monologues: 'Celebrate and empower women'

By Erin Emerson

Everyone remembers their first time -- the first time they experienced "The Vagina Monologues" that is.

After hitting the ground running during its opening season in 1996, the empowering sensation has spread like wildfire across not just the United States, but also the world.

The key to this show's success? "The Vagina Monologues" does what no one -- not in theater, not on television, not even in our own homes -- has ever done before: It speaks openly and honestly about female sexuality.

Honestly, when was the last time anyone used the word "vagina" without blushing?

"The Vagina Monologues" is a cultural landmark, marking the first time in history anyone has dared to mention the "unmentionable" parts of the female body. And it's coming to Santa Clara.

What began as a Facebook message at four in the morning from one of the show's now-producers, Francesca McKenzie, to another, Lauren Austin, is now a production involving 22 performers.

"We didn't hold auditions," McKenzie said in a recent interview, "everyone who wanted to be in it is in it."

And what's more, these brave young women are not all theater majors. They range from environmental studies majors to communication majors, and everything else in between.

So what inspired these women, some of whom had never performed before, to stand up in front of their peers and discuss something they wouldn't even feel comfortable talking to their mother about?

"This play really celebrates and empowers women," McKenzie explained. "We just hope that women leave the theatre knowing that they can do anything they want to because look -- that's what we did."

This play has the power to change how women think about their bodies, their sexuality and essentially, their lives.

Monologues discuss anything and everything having to do with the vagina -- both good and bad -- including sex, rape, menstruation, masturbation, birth and even orgasms.

It is guaranteed to make audiences feel both enlightened and uncomfortable.

Pieces also range from light and humorous, such as one woman railing against the injustices to which vaginas are subjected, to dark and political, such as stories of experiences in the rape camps of Bosnia.

The play is the child of Eve Ensler, who initially performed all of the monologues herself.

She wrote each one after interviews with 200 women about sex, relationships and violence against women because, she said in an interview with women.com, "women's empowerment is deeply connected to their sexuality."

Think about it, who doesn't feel ten times more confident in themself when they know they look drop-dead sexy?

Our sexuality is the source of our power and our self-confidence, and it has been hushed and hidden for far too long.

This is why McKenzie decided that "this was a project of female empowerment -- one that should be on campus."

Getting the project off the ground at Santa Clara, however, was not easy, according to the organizers of the show. While the theater department does support the project, it was submitted too late to be an actual department production for this year.

In addition, the Santa Clara theater department has certain requirements for using its spaces for performance, including one that stipulates that a director have a certain number of credits before they can become eligible to direct a show on the department's stage.

Unfortunately, the only students available and qualified to lead the project were men, which hardly seemed appropriate.

In the end, McKenzie and Austin decided on a dedicated female director, Anne Stella, and chose to hold the performance in the Bronco rather than the theater.

Their next challenge was to get the word out about the project because, as McKenzie explained, "E-mails and word of mouth could only do so much."

It turned out that Facebook, of all things, ended up saving the day. After a group was created on this popular networking tool, the project really took off.

"The Vagina Monologues" already received an "overwhelming response" and before long the first meeting/audition was organized, McKenzie said.

Students who volunteered to perform make up the 22-person cast and a few have joined to help with production, but still more help is needed from anyone willing to lend a hand.

Advertising as well as fundraising are challenges the female troupe hope to conquer in the coming weeks. Though Alpha Psi Omega, a theater fraternity, has volunteered to support the show financially, there is still more to be done.

"The Vagina Monologues" has become more than just a play. It is now under the umbrella of the non-profit V-Day, an organization which raises money to end violence against women.

In exchange for allowing schools to perform her creation for free, Eve Ensler, writer and creator of "The Vagina Monologues" as well as founder of the V-Day movement, asks participants to fundraise for the V-Day organization.

All money made goes directly to local establishments which aid the victims of sexual and domestic violence.

"The Vagina Monologues" premieres at Santa Clara on March 16 and 17.

If interested in participating, production meetings are held Thursdays at 6 p.m. outside the California Mission Room, and all are welcome.

For more information, visit www.vday.com, which explains the V-Day movement.

Contact Erin Emerson at eemerson@scu.edu.