PAGE 18 // WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 16. 201 1
STYLE
THE PENDULUM
MERISSA BLITZ I Staff Pf>otograpner
Above; Sophomore Claire Manship performed a monologue about reclaiming a perjurative word sometimes used to refer to a
vagina. Manship performed in the Vagina Monologues, an annual tradition at Elon University.
Below: Freshman Karrah Fleshman told the story of a woman who grew to accept her vagina because of someone else’s
fascination with that body part. The event is traditionally held on Valentine's Day.
A closer look 'down there'
Annual'Vagina Monologues'
empowers women and men
Lauren Ramsdell
Ftewewer
Valentine's Day at Elon
University usually features girls
walking back from the Mail Center
laden with Teleflora boxes, men
dressed in their snazzy best and
singles out to dinner with their
friends. Another tradition is
the annual production of “The
Vagina Monologues,” a play based
on interviews conducted with
thousands of women.
Playwright Eve Ensler, the
interviewer who compiled
the Monologues, first had the
compilation performed in 1996
and has continually worked to
update the Monologues.
The Monologues were
directed by sophomore Rebekah
Carmichael and sponsored by Elon
Feminists for Equality. Change and
Transformation and the Women’s
and Gender Studies Program.
Fourteen women performed the
Monologues in roles ranging from
dark to happy and everything
in between. Characters included
a divorcee whose husband
repeatedly cheated on her, a
72-year-old woman who never
became intimate with anyone out
of nervousness and fear and an
Afghan woman forced to wear the
burqa. Each monologue brought
laughter, gasps of surprise or
stunned silence, based on the
subject.
Some monologues deserve
special mention for their
poignancy and portrayal.
Freshman Sara Spadacene
performed “The Flood” as
the 72-year-old woman with
understated humor, believable
unease and quiet snark.
Junior Paloma White made
the audience believe that her
vagina was, indeed, angry in
“My Angry Vagina.” And in
“Because He Liked to Look at
It,” freshman Karrah Fleshman
described coming to terms
with her own body.
Throughout the
performance, there were
snippets of shocking facts.
More than 130 million women
around the world have had
female genital mutilation
performed on them, and 3 million
more are added every year. In
the United States, 200 million
women are raped each year. And
in 2000s-era Afghanistan, women
were treated “as walking corpses.”
Sophomore Liz Green is an
independent Women's and Gender
Studies major who performed
in the Monologues last year. She
performed “The Little Coochie
Snorcher That Could," a story
about repressed sexuality, rape
and eventually, acceptance.
“It’s a message I believe in,”
she said. “Being a woman is a
beautiful thing and there is no
shame in having a vagina.”
Sophomores Davis Allen
and Elizabeth Moss came to the
Monologues for Valentine’s day.
“I think the message of female
empowerment is really important
and lends itself to different
contexts,” Allen said.
Moss has been coming to the
Monologues each year she’s been
at Elon and began seeing them
before she was in college.
“(They are) funny, sad and
powerful. You don’t have to be a
woman to appreciate that,” she
said.
MORE ONLINE: STYLE
Video: The women
of The Vagina
Monologues talk
about their experience
in the show.
http://bit.ly/
TPOmonologues
Laura Van Drie,
Multimedia Intern
Michelle Wilson
Columnist
End ofthe world and
superheroes to boot
The year 2012 may
bring the infamous
“end of days,” but the
human race may Just
be protected by all
the superheroes the
big screen is bringing.
Almost every hero one
can think of is flying,
crawling, teleporting
or swinging out of
underground hiding
in the next couple of
years, looking to save
HamaaiHHaaaMa the day.
Andrew Garfield's
“Spider-Man” may have
to compete in the box office with another revamp
of a popular comic book hero: “Superman.” if
seems that Hollywood can’t stay away from
the Kryptonian Man of Steel for too long. With
“Smallville,” the television show charting Clark
Kent's early life, finishing its tenth and final
season, and the 2006 “Superman Returns” not
being a huge critical success, maybe it is time for
a new man to wear the cape.
The “man” in question is Henry Cavill, a
British-born actor who’s gotten a bit of flack for
seemingly not fitting the part, because some
fans wanted Jon Hamm from “Mad Men” for the
role. Cavill is new to intense action films, mostly
co-starring in period films and shows like “The
Tudors" and the movie “Stardust," but that may
be in his favor as no one has much to judge him
yet. Not much else is known about the film, other
than Zack Snyder is set to direct.
One actor not at all new to the superhero
circuit is Chris Evans, who in the past starred
as Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, in “The
Fantastic Four.” Evans plays Steve Rogers, who
volunteers for a top secret research project that
turns him into Captain America, a superhero
dedicated to defending the country he was
named after. The film “Captain America; The
First Avenger” is just that — the first before the
star-packed film “The Avengers,” which stars
Evans again as Captain America, Robert Downey
Jr. as Iron Man, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye,
Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and several other
heroes.
The justice doesn’t stop there. Another
film that is jamming in several superheroes
is “X-Men: First Class." The movie, set in the
1960s, follows Charles Xavier before he became
Professor X, Erik lehnsherr before he was
Magneto and their group of “gifted” friends.
Some have appeared in the original X-Men series,
like Mystique, and some new, like Beast, played
by Nicholas Hoult from “Skins (U.K.)” fame.
The movie wilt probably be this summer's box-
office hit, as it stars James McAvoy and Michael
Fassbender. Plus, it’s X-Men and everyone loves
X-Men.
For those interested in comic books, all one
can do is count down the days until the action-
packed moves come out. For those who couldn’t
care less about superpowers, evil villains or
caped crusaders, well, you can always just hope
the Mayans were right.
One Act plays will showcase student productions
Stephanie Butzer
Reporter
The Black Box Theatre is once
again hosting a round of shows that
will run the gamut from comed> to
tragedy.
Ihe upcoming performances are
part of the One Act Festival.
It s great because it consists
of student-directed plays where
students who aren’t currently in any
mainstage shows are able to keep
Nvorking on their craft,” said Jeff
Masters, president of the Theatre
Honors Society and producer of the
One Act Festival.
The performances will start on
Friday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m. There
are other shows on Saturday, Feb. 19
and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and a final
performance Feb. 20 at 2 p.m.
Masters said that directing the
plays is not only a lot less stressful
than directing an entire play, but it
gives the actors an opportunity to
experiment more.
The play’s adviser is Fred Rubeck,
and although he is not directly
involved in producing the plays, he is
the professor who approves of their
plans. Both of these plays are 100
percent student-produced.
One of the directors of the plays
is junior Julia Gallagher. She has
been involved in the performing arts
since her freshman year when she
was on deck crew for “The Pavilion"
and “Sweeney Todd." In addition, she
had the opportunity to stage manage
the 24 Hour Plays from last year. In
this year’s One Act Festival, there are
two plays.
"I’m directing ‘For Whom the
Southern Belle Tolls,'” Gallagher said,
a comedy and parody of Tennessee
Williams' "The Glass Menagerie.”
The other director, junior Kabby
Borders, is in charge of directing the
drama “The Seventeenth of June."
Directing the show has been an
irreplaceable privilege for Gallagher,
she said. She said she loves being
able to create visions in her head and
then see them come to life. She also
said that the actors she works with
are equally talented people.
"I’ve never directed before, so it's
definitely been an amazing learning
experience,” she said.
As a director for this event,
Gallagher has a lot of extra
responsibilities. She usually gets to
rehearsal early in order to set up and
prepare the scenery and props for
the practice. Once everything is set
and the assistant director, assistant
stage manager and actors arrive, the
group does a warm-up check-in.
"We go around in a circle to
see how everybody's day was and
see how everyone is feeling,” she
said. This is an important process
because it may affect the day’s work
Depending on where the group is
m the process, the group will work
on individual parts of “For Whom
the Southern Belle Tolls” or run the
Black Box Theatre One Act shows
Black Box One Acts are Feb. 18-
20 in the Black Box Theatre. Shows
will be Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday
at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at
2 p.m.
Performing arts majors will direct
the short plays.
Admission is $5 or free with an
Elon ID.
entire show. Sometimes Gallagher
and her assistant director work on
fine-tuning some things after the
rehearsals have ended.
The plays run for one weekend
and are free to Elon students with an
ID. But, since the one-act plays are
in the small Black Box Theatre, it is
recommended to get there up to an
hour before the performance begins.