When Emily Ausubel ’13 was a first year, she already had a meaningful connection to V-Day and ‘The Vagina Monologues’—her sister. Ausubel’s sibling headed Bowdoin’s V-Day and directed ‘The Vagina Monologues’, encouraging her younger sister to join the effort.
Ausubel has since acted in ‘The Vagina Monologues’ twice, and is in her second year of co-directing (this year’s co-directors include Lydia Singerman ‘13, Callie Ferguson ’15 and Xanthi Demas ‘15). She is as invested in the show as ever, and celebrates the sense of community that the production fosters—a sisterhood, biological or otherwise.
“The isn’t like any other show, it’s really like being a part of a movement,” Ausubel tells me. The Government major from Newton, MA believes that the spectrum of emotions that Eve Ensler’s famous feminist manifesto encompasses—hilarity, awkwardness, pain—brings the cast closer together.
‘The Vagina Monologues’ hasn’t changed much since the late 90’s but a new monologue is added each year to “spotlight” the female experience in a certain region. Past spotlights include Haiti and New Orleans. This year, the show will promote a project by V-day called ‘One Billion Rising.’ It’s estimated that one billion is the global number of women that will experience violence in their lifetime.
“Our world awareness is growing as we get older,” says Ausubel, who doubts she would have recognized the full import of ‘The Vagina Monologues’ as a high school student. As a college woman, “You might see your friend affected by something that makes you want to be part of a cause like this,” Ausubel explains.
Events of the past year bring the topic of sexual violence close to home. Sexual assault against college women has come to the forefront of dialogue in higher education after an op-ed written by former Amherst College student Angie Epifano went viral.
“I think people hear the name of the show and they think they don’t want to go to this feminist show that’s just about vaginas,” says Ausubel, who strives to debunk the misconception.
According to Ausubel, “Recognizing that sexual violence is a reality in so many of our peers’ lives” is the impetus to support the show, which—though it lacks a monologue specifically from the perspective of a college woman—celebrates the resilience of women young and old.
A report that looked into Amherst’s sexual assault resources found that the campus culture lacks meaningful mentorship. Bowdoin’s production of V-day strives to be a valuable resource for younger cast members.
“I love having freshmen in V-day because it’s almost like a mentoring group, we make sure that we are creating a comfortable environment” Ausubel explains: “We’re their allies.”
The cast bonds in an annual retreat, during which they watch a 2002 documentary about worldwide V-Day observance titled ‘Until The Violence Stops’. The retreat is also an opportunity for candid conversation about each cast member’s relationship with the material.
“A lot of people come back,” the director explains, “[they get] their friends to do it.” This year’s show has a cast of 40 women, and in Ausubel’s time at Bowdoin she’s seen involvement as high as 80 actresses.
“The people that the show changes the most is the people that are in it,” Ausubel says, “Even if it’s just the 40 women and not the 150 people that come to the show, that in my mind is successful.”
From the production’s FB page:
Come to Bowdoin’s annual performance of The Vagina Monologues!! We have two performances this year: Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th at 7:30pm in Kresge Auditorium (VAC).
Tickets are $5 with a Bowdoin ID at the SU desk in Smith Union – all proceeds will be donated to the Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine (SASSMM) and VDAY to support their work stoping violence against women and supporting survivors of sexual assault.
Tickets are on sale now!