The Colby Echo

Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Rob Kievit

I don't know how often I hear the word "vagina" on an average night, but this Valentine's Day, I heard it spoken over 100 times. I saw The Vagina Monologues, a set of stories inspired by interviews of women around the world about their vaginas.

By performing the Vagina Monologues, Colby participated in an international VDay campaign to stop violence against women by raising awareness and money. On Valentine's Day, hundreds of colleges around the world performed the same play in different languages with different variations.

The director, Laura Blake, is from Waterville and has directed the show for 6 years. On Thursday night her daughter Skylar, age 6, made an appearance doing a piece written for a 6-year-old girl. The rest of the cast was made up of 11 Colby women. Barefoot and dressed in black, they each took a turn on the dimly lit stage to tell their stories. Even though Page commons was full, the mood felt intimate, maybe because of the effect of only one woman on stage at a time, or maybe because the subject at hand was vaginas.

The intimacy was necessary to appreciating the full extent of the meaning behind each monologue. The monologues varied from images of individual women rediscovering their own sexuality, to women protesting the cultural stereotypes of what having a vagina means, remembering times of violence that changed their personal opinions of what their vaginas meant to them. Though each piece dealt with sensitive material, the women presented their roles with such humor and poise that the audience was forced to understand and believe.

The pieces took on a more and more defensive, assertive tone as the night progressed. Ashley Hunt, '07, in a short black skirt redefined for the audience what wearing a short skirt meant and what it said about her and her womanhood. Sarah Faasse, '07 took control with her piece using her strong voice and attitude to express why one woman's vagina is angry. The night climaxed with Kelly Benvenuto '07, who cracked a whip and strut in fishnets and leather boots asserting her sexuality by demonstrating the different kinds of moans women make during sex. The show ended with the full cast united on stage, sharing the importance of peace in the preservation of womanhood. Uncomfortable, hilarious and poignant, The Vagina Monologues brought the exciting adventure of sexual self-discovery to light for all who witnessed it. The only thing that could have made the experience better was if we all had our own hand mirrors.

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