Be He Liked to Look At It, My Angry Vagina, My Short Skirt and The Vagina Workshop are all monologues based off of real life people in a play called The Vagina Monologues. The Vagina Monologues was written by Tony award winner Eve Ensler. Eve’s vision for this play was to interview women of different ages and races about the different aspects of the feminine lifestyle that is all linked to one particular part of the female anatomy, the vagina. This play has been performed in 140 different countries around the world. Female Manhattanville students have the opportunity to audition to be apart of this experience as it has an impact on how women view their bodies. When asking some of the cast members about their experience Leandra Romano ’18 states, “The Vagina Monologues is an eye opening experience that helps to give all women a voice. It raises awareness, arouses questions, and protects against our constantly patriarchal society. I can’t think of a better way to help spread the love of vaginas.” Another actor Shanice Peters ’17, who is performing in her final performance of the Vagina Monologues stated, “It’s honestly been an empowering experience. It strikes up a conversation that I think we tend to avoid in society today and it makes the conversation less awkward in a fun way.”
This play is very meaningful to the student director because each year they pick a different charity each year for their proceeds to go to. This year’s charity was Hope’s Door in Pleasantville, NY. This charity looks to give a voice to those suffering from, and looks to put an end to domestic violence and to help these individuals have the safety, and heal from their traumas.
Every year that Manhattanville has been performing this production things change within the show. Between the overall theme, monologues, and actors some things are never the same. “Doing the Vagina Monologues every year is probably my favorite thing to do. It’s super empowering and fun to work with a group of women who want to have our voices heard,” states Hannah Whitcomb ’17 who used ASL for her monologue My Vagina, My Village. When asking Hannah about her experience signing the monologue she stated, “it was an awesome experience. It was the first time signing has been done. Kristina specifically asked me to interpret the monologue through sign. The monologue is perfect for signing because of the switching from happy to gruesome. It was great to have Olivia who also knows sign language speaking what I was signing. I enjoyed creating the signing and making that twist to the piece.” Though this year’s production has ended for the season, you can catch the production again next year. It is definitely a show you want to see at Mville.