The opening night of City College’s V-day presentation of “The Vagina Monologues” attracted a full house Feb. 18, despite the stormy weather that evening.
“The Vagina Monologues” was written by Eve Ensler and is based on a series of interviews with a variety of women about their vaginas. The monologues discuss women’s issues such as rape, abuse, humor, embarrassment, sexuality and, of course, vaginas.
The Saville Theatre lobby bustled with attendees visiting booths featuring vendors and informational materials. Attendees also wrote on a poster that asked, “What would your vagina say?”
While entering the theater, audience members were given a production program and a purple ribbon paying tribute to those affected by domestic violence.
All 282 seats were spoken for on the performance’s opening night and the second night drew another 260 people.
90 percent of the proceeds will be donated towards the scholarship fund for Crystal Gonzales, slain City College student Diana Gonzalez’s daughter. The remaining 10 percent will be donated toward the 2011 Spotlight on Women and Girls of Haiti.
The Feb. 18 performance began with director and City College professor Katie Rodda introducing the production itself as well as a video collage that played before the show.
The video collage, directed by Robert Sly and RTVC 125, was recorded at the V-day event “Vulvapalooza.” It featured various participants talking about vaginas and how they felt about the vagina, using words such as “beautiful,” “strong,” “like a flower” and “we wouldn’t be here today without one.”
The production began with numerous actresses, most with scripts in hand, walking onto the stage and along the sides of the theater, introducing “The Vagina Monologues.”
The two-hour production truly brought the audience through a rollercoaster of emotions. Some performances on the lighter side were sexual or humorous while others on the heavier side were more intense and emotional.
A few of the standout performances came from Annie Sidner, Rebekah Ensley and Elizabeth Norvell.
The Feb. 18 performance truly felt like it was for Gonzalez, who is believed to have been a victim of domestic violence. I left the theater feeling moved and touched by the powerful stories the women shared.
Although I’m sure some of the monologues had the men in the audience cringing in their seats, I felt plenty of positive energy flowing from the women in the crowd. The production achieved its goal of increasing awareness to end domestic violence.
