Annual performance of ‘Vagina Monologues’ is emotional, yet comedic

03/27/2014

Director Alex Kast took on multiple roles for the performance. Kayla Lemay - Photo — Director Alex Kast took on multiple roles for the performance.
Kayla Lemay – Photo

By Kayla Lemay

Comment Staff

“Come laugh, cry, and joke about vaginas,” read the posters found all across Bridgewater State University campus last week, promoting the “Vagina Monologues.”

The show was performed Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23 in the Horace Mann Auditorium.

Put on by 13 Bridgewater State female students, this show has been adopted at colleges across the country since it was written in 1996 by Eve Ensler.

The play consists of performances with one woman to a group of women, acting out interviews conducted by Ensler relating to women’s vaginas, their feelings about sex, and experiences with sexual assault and rape.

“It’s kind of like ‘A Christmas Carol.’ Everybody does that play around Christmas,” said Sarah Gallagher, a senior majoring in theater and special education, and one of the directors of the play. “So every February and March, everybody does ‘The Vagina Monologues.’ It’s called V-Day.”

At BSU, the student-run performance is paid for completely out-of-pocket, with no funding from the school or any organization.

“Just getting this to go on was incredibly stressful and difficult,” said Alex Kast, the other director and a senior with a dual licensure major in elementary education and art education. “It would be nice if we got some school funding to help out with this, because it goes to a good cause.”

While there was an admission for the event and there were products being sold, all of the money went to a local charity called Joanna’s Place, which is a nonprofit in support of families dealing with loss.

“Every school that does [The Vagina Monologues] donates to charities around them,” said Gallagher.

It is a yearly production, with auditions typically being held in December and rehearsals beginning when the spring semester starts.

The base script is determined by the organizers of the “Vagina Monologues,” and directors can add or remove written monologues at their own discretion. Each year there is a spotlight monologue, where each group performing the monologues will perform this one.

This year, it was a monologue called “My Short Skirt.” The premise is a woman saying that how she dresses is not an invitation to openly catcall her, or even go so far as to sexually assault her.

While both Kast and Gallagher are graduating, they plan to pass on the torch down to girls who were involved this past year. They both agreed they would like to see the “Vagina Monologues” continue here at BSU.

“We would like to see more girls get involved,” Gallagher said.

Kayla Lemay is the General Assignments Editor at The Comment. Follow her on Twitter @klemay123 or email her at klemay@student.bridgew.edu.