Female theatre troupe Athena’s Players is giving Boston University students a chance to take a peek into the raw tales of the female experience this weekend with its performance of “The Vagina Monologues.”
The performances, which will be held in the Law Auditorium on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., will support V-Day, a global movement that aims to end violence against women.
This year, V-Day’s Spotlight campaign will benefit the women and girls of Haiti after last year’s earthquake.
“This show touches on a bunch of themes within one universal message of the female experience,” said College of Arts and Sciences senior Sarah Sullivan, director of Athena’s Players and the “Vagina Monologues.”
Social activist and feminist Eve Ensler created “The Vagina Monologues,” a performance composed of 16 monologues based on the playwright’s interviews with more than 200 women of all ages and backgrounds.
Each year’s themes are controversial and focus on issues that affect women, Sullivan said.
“Sexual assault, birth, misogyny and victim versus survivor are all major themes,” Sullivan said. “The spotlight piece is about what life is like today in Haiti, especially in a gender-based context. There had been an increase in sexual violence in Haiti, which is not uncommon after a natural disaster.”
Sullivan emphasized how the performance has a profound impact on the audience each year.
“There are moments of hope and moments of sadness in each of the monologues,” Sullivan said. “It really takes seeing the whole show to see the plethora of experiences in a woman’s life.”
Members of Athena’s Players said they each have their own personal reasons for being involved in show.
“My older sister was in a production at her university when I was in high school,” said School of Education junior Lizzie Kronbergs, co-assistant director of the production.
“It changed my life and I was inspired. I have a completely different view of my body. It was just a crazy, magical experience,” Kronbergs said.
The performance tends to bring up touchy themes, she said.
“One of the reasons why I really love this play is because it gets people talking,” Kronsberg said. “We’re having a talk after each show so the audience can speak with the directors and cast members.”
The V-Day movement has had a large impact on the annual play, said College of Communication junior Alia Gilbert, co-assistant director.
“Each year, Eve Ensler creates a new monologue that she adds into the show,” Gilbert said. “The idea is to get the audience active and inspired.”
The monologues feature stories about women of all ages.
“My monologue is called ‘The Flood,’” said College of Communication sophomore Jean Marie Downey. “I play a 75-year-old woman talking about the first time she was ever aroused.”
The monologue makes the audience think about sexuality in a different way, Downey said.
“It’s really important because you don’t think about women any older than our moms having sex. But old people do have sex.”
Margarita Diaz., a CAS sophomore, said her monologue deals with rape in strife-ridden countries.
“My monologue is called ‘My Vagina was my Village,’ and it’s about a girl who was subject to a rape camp in Bosnia,” said Diaz. “Rape was used as a tactic of war, and hundreds of thousands of girls were raped.”
CAS sophomore Kaitlin Bresee said her monologue is one of the few that portrays men in a positive light.
“My monologue is about a girl who thinks that her vagina is so ugly that she pretends other things are there,” Bresee said. “She meets this guy who seems normal, but actually likes to revel in vaginas, so she starts to feel beautiful.”
Over the years, “The Vagina Monologues” has built a strong following at BU.
“I’ve seen it here every year, and when I leave, I’m suddenly aware and proud of my vagina,” said Kathy Kirch, a University Professors Program senior.
“I think it’s a fantastic idea because it’s a different kind of perspective,” said CAS senior Chelsey Eccleston. “It’s everything that a woman can relate to in some way.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
