The Vagina Monologues: Unmentionables Triumph at PSU

Cooter…Powder Box…Coochie Snorcher…Nappi Dugout…Split Kanish – dare I say it Cunt! Leave your inhibitions at the door, ladies and gentlemen, because there’s no room for bashfulness here. As evidenced by the immense international acclaim for Eve Ensler’s revolutionary play, The Vagina Monologues, the sexually suppressive shovel Sigmund Freud used to put our libidos to rest with has been taken back forever. Women – and men – everywhere are now using it to bury the good doctor deeper into the ground while, most importantly, unearthing and celebrating their most private of parts. The Vagina Monologues opened Thursday, March 3rd at PSU and didn’t disappoint as the audience was awed throughout by the performances of the very gifted, enthused, and dedicated cast. In this Camille Lively and Tara Cloutier directed play, the actors take turns on stage reciting the monologues of “real” people revealing happy, humorous and sometimes heartbreaking narratives about their vagina experiences. “I think the play forces people to be so open that it brings everyone together,” says Brandi Philbrick. The setting for this production consisted of a well-lit, city sky-line at night, which gave the stage a very progressive, expansive, and empowering feel. In front of the backdrop, a pink table was set up with four green and black chairs. “The theme that we focused on when (Tara and I) directed it was bringing the show back to its simple elements and not making it such a heavy, dark, political thing. We wanted it to be fun, educational and informative,” said Camille Lively. The range and abilities of these performers are tested throughout the entire play, as they have to constantly jump from the tragic, to the celebratory, to the humorous without missing an emotional beat. Sarah Connelly, Meghan Sullivan, Brandi Philbrick and Laurel Briere began the show by talking about finding your vagina, looking at it, and question why a part of the human body should be considered so taboo. The show consisted of 14 total monologues, each one encompassing a different sentiment and emotion. The monologues included the story of an angry woman who felt pressure to mask her vagina using perfume, another in which a woman talked about reclaiming the word cunt, and even the monologue of a six-year-old girl who innocently discusses her private area. Heidi Therrien, Valerie Sodano, Annette Beaudoin and Stephanie Maslack all gave passionate and inspired performances and did each of the three aforementioned monologues a great deal of justice. Perhaps the most exciting and entertaining monologue of the evening, though, was delivered by Camille Lively. Lively, playing a lawyer turned dominatrix, had every audience member balled over in his or her seat- whether from laughter, excitement, shock, or embarrassment – with her moaning soliloquy dedicated to the different types moans her “clients” have experienced with her. The scene was certainly a fan-favorite and unanimously won over every member of the crowd. Even though this production was more cheerful than it has been in past years, the cast didn’t want that to take away from the primary meaning of the play. “If you put too many (somber monologues) in the play it becomes too much like ‘men hate women’ and I don’t hate men,” Lively comments. “This play is all for women and all for men who are all for women.” “Women haven’t made such a statement like this before and I think it helps bring them together,” adds Cloutier. The performance, while theatrically important for women, also had an underlying tone of political and social commentary that everyone – women and men – should understand and be aware of. So, do a lot of men attend the showings? “It’s about half women and half men,” says Lively. It’s not because (men) want to come to see some girl have 60 orgasms on stage, or it may be why they initially come, but once they leave they take things from it and that’s something that’s so powerful about this show.” In fact, for the first time at PSU, there was a male – Dylan O’Neil – acting in this production. According to the cast, the choice to have a male in the play was unanimous, and this decision truly reflects the advancing and tolerant journey this play has made over the last five years. O’Neil was very candid with his feelings after the show.”After the show my mother said to me that after seeing it, she felt good be a woman, he said.” “And that made me proud.” The 2005 production of, The Vagina Monologues conveyed the message that women can be empowered and inspired through their bodies without sacrificing their abilities to explore the world through their emotions and their minds. Proceeds from The Vagina Monologues will be donated to the V-Day Organization and locally to Voices Against Violence, a non profit organization in Plymouth which provides support, advocacy and education for survivors of sexual violence. Heidi Therrien sums it up best: “Vagina. Learn it, love it, say it, embrace it!