The topic of female genitalia is not commonly addressed and often avoided in most social situations.
“The Vagina Monologues” written by Eve Ensler seeks to answer the question “Why?”
“The play is about what you want it to be about. For me it’s about taking away the shame and celebrating being a woman,” said Kristen Lee Kelly, actress in the national touring company of “The Vagina Monologues.”
The Broadway National Touring Company’s production of “The Vagina Monologues,” opens tonight at the Southern Theatre in downtown Columbus and will run through Sunday.
The show stars Kelly, Starla Benford and Shawn Ireland from Columbus radio station 97.9 WNCI.
Kelly said the play asks what is offensive about the word “vagina”?
“Now I use the word ‘vagina’ as often as I use the word ‘car,’ ” she said.
Kelly said the language and subject matter are intense, but it is important for students – especially women in college – to see it because it encourages women to own themselves again.
“The sooner you can confront the topic the better,” Kelly said.
The play is based on experiences of real-life women. Ensler interviewed 200 women and came up with 10 monologues. Some are filled with laughter, like when Ensler asked a six-year- old girl if her vagina wore clothes, what would it wear? Others are filled with tears, such as the monologue of a teenage rape victim from Bosnia.
“It moves the audience through every emotion,” Benford said.
“The Vagina Monologues” deals with many issues and uses language that is often considered taboo. They are things that are in the back of every woman’s mind, but aren’t normally talked about because they are not ladylike, Benford said.
“The women in the audiences are saying, ‘Thank-you for finally saying that,’ ” Kelly said.
Both Kelly and Benford said audiences have had incredibly enthusiastic responses to the play.
“All over the country it feels like women in the audience really need to hear what this play has to say,” Kelly said.
“The Vagina Monologues” is different than a traditional play because it is interactive with the audience.
The actresses talk with audience members who answer back and often shout out their feelings of agreement and understanding.
“We as women are a lot more unified than we think. Society is what makes us competitive,” Kelly said.
During a traditional play the audience enters a new world. But Kelly said in “The Vagina Monologues,” the audience members enter their own world within themselves.
Oprah Winfrey has said “The Vagina Monologues” started as a play but has turned into a crusade.
“So many women came up to talk to me about having been beaten and raped and incested that I started to feel I was going to have a breakdown,” Ensler said in an interview with Winfrey.
She decided to declare V-Day: Vagina Day, a charity to stop violence against women around the world. Proceeds from ticket sales to each performance of “The Vagina Monologues,” are given to V-Day. The actual day is usually sometime around Valentine’s Day.
“Eve has started a major movement around the world,” Benford said. “There is a message of enlightenment, empowerment, and understanding.”
It takes a lot of courage to do the show, and it takes more courage to see the show.
“It is about women taking back their power,” Benford said.
Kelly said the play is not anti-men, but pro-women.
“I was not as in tune with my woman-self as I thought,” Kelly said. “It makes me proud to be a woman.”
