“The Vagina Monologues” is a play to be shared, rooted both in historic and contemporary conditions.
The local production of the serio-comic set of monologues continues at Columbia Center for the Arts this weekend.
Featuring #MeToo-enabled updates to some of the segments, this is long-time Hood River director Judie Hanel’s fourth local production of Eve Ensler’s play. She also staged it in Hood River in 1998, 2006, and 2010.
Described by The Economist as “a whirlwind tour of a forbidden zone,” it goes beyond anatomy and sex and into a multi-faceted examination of women’s experiences and feelings in a number of cultures. The local cast features Desiree Amyx, Peter Cornelison, Irene Fields, Julie Hatfield, Leilani Jacobs, Kim Robichaud, Kathy Williams, and Cynthia Yoshida, all of whom stand and deliver on a stage that, while mostly barren of furniture and props, is laden with emotion and humor, recounting tales of consensual and non-consensual sex, reproduction, sex work, menstruation, body image, genital mutilation, and sexual assault.
“They have embraced this show, and they have done great work in developing their characters,” Hanel said, “It’s been a joy.”
After writing the play, Ensler formed “V Day,” coinciding with Valentine’s Day, “to reach out to everybody around the world about women’s issues,” Hanel explained. Since 2001, on Valentine’s Day, Ensler allows colleges and universities to perform her new monologues and part of the old show from the script.
Ensler bases her scripts on conversations she had with girls and women around the world.
“What we don’t say, we don’t see,” said Hanel. “Part of what is so poignant is how many girls and woman have undergone female genital mutilation, as unbelievable as that is, and (Ensler) has highlighted that and now we’re talking about it.
“What we’ve found over the years is if something has not been named, it ‘doesn’t exist’. She has broken the silence, and we now know over the years many people were waiting for permission to do the same thing,” Hanel said. Asked about changes in the script, Hanel said Ensler has included voices amplified by the #MeToo movement.
“She now includes monologues of bisexual, transgender, lesbian and other communities, Now all voices are included, and also men,” Hanel said.
The play’s male voice reminds us “That men are also abused.
“The play has raised a lot of awareness and started to chip away. It includes those voices that have not been heard. And what excites me is that all the voices were included in this show. The #MeToo voice, the male voice.”
The play is poignant and comic, and bracing in places — while suitable for mature teens.
“It’s time we have finally been able to say these things,” she said, adding that she disagrees with the use of the term “harsh” to describe some of the content.
“The harshness is what has happened in the past to women, to not having a voice, finally having a voice, to being able to speak out,” she said.
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