“The Vagina Monologues,” a play about women’s varying experiences with sexuality, assault, gender, and race, is being performed tonight at 6 p.m. in Fulton Chapel as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month sponsored by Rebels Against Sexual Assault.
The episodic play was written by Eve Ensler, winning her the Obie Award, and was first premiered at the HERE Arts Center in New York City in 1996. It consists of a number of monologues, which all explores similar themes of the female experience.
When it was first performed, Ensler was the star of the production. Since then, it has been performed widely across the country and the rest of the world in its original and adapted forms and has even inspired the launch of a global non-profit, V-Day, that has raised over $50 million for women’s anti-violence groups.
The play has been performed here at Ole Miss for a number of years, generally in February, and it has been sponsored by organizations like the Feminist Majority of Ole Miss. Rebels Against Sexual Assault has managed the production of the monologues since 2016.
President of RASA Sam Cox is looking forward to seeing the production come together Friday afternoon.
“It’s an incredible performance piece,” Cox said. “I’m excited to see students involved in RASA get excited about it and put on these impactful monologues in front of fellow students.”
Many other events, like Take Back the Night and Denim Day, are being held during the month of April in order to shed light on sexual assault.
“RASA is holding these events to not only bring about awareness of sexual assault on college campuses, but to offer events where we educate students on specific skills like how to communicate appropriately, and events where we empower women and events where we celebrate survivors,” Cox said.
President of FEMISS Sheffield Spence considers events like the performance of “The Vagina Monologues” crucial for spreading awareness of sexual assault, and using the medium of theatre allows the message to touch the lives of the audience members in a way that other forms cannot.
“The more we have events like this on our campus, the more we can open up about consent, reporting sexual assault, and what resources are available,” she said. “The issue of sexual assault has no boundaries and is not limited by political party affiliation; this is an issue that affects all of humanity and should be treated as such.”
Colleen Fay, RASA’s community outreach coordinator, believes that “The Vagina Monologues” expresses a core mission of RASA – bringing awareness to issues surrounding violence against women – but does it in an entertaining, expressive way.
“Particularly for ‘The Vagina Monologues,’ we hope that students come away with a better understanding of female empowerment,” she said. “Sexual assault can happen to anyone of any gender.”
RASA’s corresponding secretary Matt Travers hopes to bring attention to narratives that would likely otherwise be overlooked without ‘The Vagina Monologues.’
“We hope to hear and respect the voices of sexual assault survivors and teach others about how to prevent it at the same time,” Travers said. “By putting on events, like ‘The Vagina Monologues,’ RASA hopes to break the stigma attached to sexual assault and make others – especially on campus – aware of how prevalent it is.”
The all-female performance will touch on a number of uncomfortable topics through its individual, separate monologues but overall will promote an open dialogue about femininity, identity and sexuality while shedding the stigma surrounding sexual assault.
“’The Vagina Monologues’ is definitely not an easy performance, but [the performers] are all working hard to respect and honor the stories of the women they are sharing.”
One of these performers, Alana Mitias, appreciates that each member of the production got to choose the monologue they wanted to perform.
“Everyone is really supportive and we’ve been given a lot of freedom to choose how we want the performance to go. We get to perform the piece that we connect with the most, which I think is really valuable when dealing with sensitive subject matter,” she said. “An important part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month is encouraging an open dialogue about sexuality and sexual health, and ‘The Vagina Monologues embodies that message.’”
Her favorite monologue is “My Short Skirt,” which deals with female autonomy and “discredits the idea that the way a woman dresses is indicative of her respectability,” an issue Mitias feels is important to campus culture.
“I think, especially with the rise of the #MeToo movement and increased dialogue surrounding these issues, it’s important to keep the conversation going about topics like relationships and sexual violence, and ‘The Vagina Monologues’ is really open and unapologetic about its dealings with that kind of content,” she said.
Travers agreed with Mitias in that the play is especially relevant to campus culture, especially after the #MeToo movement’s popularity.
“There has long been a culture of silence and disbelief regarding sexual assault, especially on college campuses,” Travers said. “Today, however, there are many movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp, spearheaded by survivors of sexual assault, that work to break down established power dynamics and the abuse of power. I think that in a similar way, ‘The Vagina Monologues’ is an empowering way to make survivors’ voices heard.”
In the end, though, he hopes that audiences will be more comfortable after watching the monologues discussing important issues that are not necessarily easy to talk about, further spreading RASA’s primary mission of awareness, this month especially and throughout the year.
“’The Vagina Monologues’ encourages a culture of being unafraid to share one’s story. I hope that students learn something after watching ‘The Vagina Monologues,’” Travers said. “I hope that viewers gain a clearer understanding of what life is like for survivors of sexual assault. And, I hope that students are more comfortable discussing seemingly uncomfortable issues.”
