The first weekend of March brings an intriguing show to Winthrop. Performers who identify as female and non-binary will be coming together to present Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” a series of monologues based on real interviews meant to empower women and remove the stigma of talking about the body. Some of the performers were willing to offer their insight into the show.
Amanda Light, an English major, is reading a monologue dubbed “Workshop.” According to her, this monologue deals “with a woman who had never considered her vagina as a part of her, just as an anatomical object. She attends a ‘Vagina Workshop’ and through that gains a better understanding of her vagina.”
Light chose to audition for the show because of her friends auditioning and she is “glad [she] did.” From the rehearsals she has gone through, she has “gained such a new appreciation for the work [of] actors…” and has realized “[her] own insecurities with [her] own body.”
She hopes that the audience sees her monologue and sees “that there is no need to fear the female body and the sexuality of it. The same goes for men as well!” Light went on to say, “I think that a lot of women, including myself, are embarrassed to look at what’s down there. It exists as a foreign object. I want this production to open uncomfortable conversations between people that can lead to better self-love, confidence, and understanding. I want women to love every part of their bodies, instead of waiting for someone to do it for them. The word ‘vagina’ doesn’t have to be awkward.”
Joining Light is Carrington Wigfall, a theatre tech and design major. Carrington will be performing the “Not So Happy Fact” monologue, which addresses female genital mutilation, or FGM. She chose to do it “because it shines a light on the many things women have to go through in life” and she hopes that, “the audience realizes, especially with my monologue, how horrible some of the things women around the world have to go through.”
Another performer who offered insight was musical theatre major, T Mistretta. Mistretta will be playing one of the women in “They Beat the Girl Out of my Boy… Or So They Tried” and “I Was There in the Room”.
In regards to why they chose “The Vagina Monologues”, they said, “I find that this is a very important show in our current day and was very excited to potentially be a part of it. For me, this show overall represents reclamation and emancipation, to some extent, for women. These women have struggled and hurt simply because of their biology, and this show feels like a reclamation of what is rightfully theirs.”
Mistretta wants the viewers of the show to understand, “while we have made great strides, women’s issues are still largely prevalent today, case and point, the abortion bans in Alabama and Georgia. I hope that the audience leaves with the motivation to do something to remedy the issues that women face and less concerned about that taboo that society has associated with women’s issues.”
They went on to say, “I am personally very grateful to be a part of this show because some of the issues presented in the monologues are issues that I deal with frequently. Despite the fact that I am nonbinary, I was born biologically female and therefore deal with many of the issues that those who present as female do. I believe that this show is incredibly important and hope that the audience finds it just as impactful as I do.”
“The Vagina Monologues” will run from March 6-7 at 8 p.m. in Plowden Auditorium in Withers. Admission is free, however donations are welcomed and will go towards Safe Alliance’s Domestic Violence Relief Shelter in Charlotte, NC. This event is also a cultural event.
Graphic: Laura Munson/ The Johnsonian
