"Vagina Monologues" inspires moans of delight

Author: Nathan Klozko

I had always thought that those late-night cries of "I should be studying!" were just the frustrated side-effects of procrastination. "The Vagina Monologues" certainly corrected my perception of that. Under the guidance of directors Jeanine Buzali '09 and Samantha Collier '09 and producer Aki Ito '09, 33 women, young and old, came together in performance to talk about that place more legendary than the lost city of El Dorado - the vagina.

Sitting within a Bermuda triangle of speakers last Friday afternoon on the curb of Hepburn, the atmosphere could not have been more pleasant. Evacuation Plan and Ava & the Gardeners provided some excellent pre-show music, serenading audience members as they toted blanket and towel across the grass. The audience, undoubtedly feeling the spring fever, gave a warm welcome to the actresses as they took their places. And thus the afternoon began: "Welcome to this year's Vagina Day." V-Day, started by "Vagina Monologues" playwright Eve Ensler '75, is a call to stop violence against women. Yearly, women across the world produce benefit performances of "The Vagina Monologues" and other plays to both raise awareness about feminine brutality and celebrate female sexuality. In addition to encouraging performances, the V-Day foundation works to provide shelters, promote awareness and sponsor workshops.

"The Vagina Monologues" is a series of interviews with women of all ages and ethnicities, asking them about the highest taboo, their own "down-theres." The responses range from poetic stories of rebirth to shocking slaps of reality to rants about tampons. But thoughtout it is a communal respect for the vagina, the things it has gone through, and the things it has yet to go through. Interspersed through the play are a number of interesting vagina facts, offering statistics concerning rape, mutilation and sensitivity, and the fact that vibrators are illegal to sell in a number of states. I think we are all glad that Vermont has no laws about that. Why inhibit pleasure?

What captured my attention most throughout the play was the powerful use of imagery. No matter who was speaking, each actress had her own image of the vagina, and found her own language to express it. Whether it was a "flower, an eccentric tulip, the center acute and deep" or an "archeological tunnel," the language led the mind through a sm