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F E ATU RE S
V'day performances resonate with empowering voices
By Theo Kogod
Staff Writer
In the entrance hall outside of Bryan
Jr. Auditorium, the familiar red hues of
Valentine's Day weekend bloomed. Cards
and chocolates were being handed out,
celebrating "V-Day 2010." These were not
Valentines, however, but cards for a different
type of V-day altogether.
The vagina-shaped chocolates and
black-type cards represented "The Vagina
Monologues," one pf two plays performed
each year to commemorate the experiences
of women, good and bad, beautiful and hor
rific, originating from all ages, races, and
backgrounds.
The other play, "A Memory, A Monologue,
A Rant and a Prayer," dealt with themes
of women's suffering, rape, and domestic
abuse.
Performed by an all-Guilford cast and
directed by seniors Alyzza Callahan and
Carly Mills, these two plays resonate with
themes of empowerment and awareness.
Profits from both plays benefited Leslie's
House, a women's shelter, and Beautifully
Brave, an anti-domestic violence campaign
founded by junior Megan Snider.
Both plays were envisioned by Eve Ensler,
a playwright, feminist, and activist who
wrote "The Vagina Monologues" and edit
ed the collection of stories that comprises
"A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and a
Prayer." The essays include work by Maya
Angelou, Alice Walker, and Anna Deavere
Smith. Smith will speak on Feb. 28 at the
Greensboro Coliseum as part of Guilford s
Bryan Series.
The first and more famous of the two
plays, "The Vagina Monologues," draws
myriad reactions. Ensler collected interviews
and monologues from women of many ages,
races, and backgrounds across the country,
and their stories range from hilarious to
tragic.
One monologue, "Because He Liked to
Look At It," performed by senior Alessandra
Barbiero, focuses on a woman who used
to think of her vagina as being comparable
to a couch — a sort of disembodied mass
attached to her — until she met a man named
Bob, who changed her life (and her relation
ship with her vagina) forever. Bob, speaking
to her passionately in pre-coital moments,
told her "I need to see you." To Bob, noth
ing about the woman or her sexuality was
shameful.
"Down there?" begins another mono
logue, which Saron Smith-Hardin '09 recited
in a New York accent. "I haven't been down
there since 1953. No, it had nothing to do
with Eisenhower." The piece, titled ""The
Flood," focused on the elderly speaker's fear
and willful ignorance of her sexual respons
es, which colored her relationships for most
of her life.
In another monologue, "Reclaiming
'Cunt,'" which was performed by senior
Hailey Moses, one woman discussed the
controversial word, breaking down its sharp,
powerful poignancy, letter b)^ letter, sound
by sound, speaking with quick arid rhythinic
passion as she expressed the importance of
embracing and owning a word often used
against women.
The tone shifted with each new speaker.
One particularly haunting scene recounted
the Bosnian genocide, in which women were
raped en masse. This monologue featured
a Bosnian refugee, performed by first-years
Hannah Waller and Elizabeth Wray, recount
ing how she was sexually assaulted by a
group of soldiers and survived with irrepa
rable genital injuries.
The play was a strong production with
a large cast. Some monologues were per
formed by more than one actress, and in
these cases, the acting itself was often sur
passed by the artful manner in which one
speaker would feed into the next, rhythm
smooth or syncopated, to drive home a point.
Several actresses used distinct accents and
mannerisms to characterize their roles with
audible and visual cues.
The other play, "A Memory, A Monologue,
A Rant and A Prayer," had darker stories,
included male roles, and dealt more with
violence against women.
The male parts speak on behalf of men's
crimes and responsibilities. Women through
out the play recounted instances of violence
directed against them.
In the opening scene, four actors chant
ing in turn describe everyday acts of vio-
Terice'agairiSTWSm’^ft; The -fiF^t ’^6rig' theHi
to speak was senior Tim Lindberg who
described a man about to hit a hungry child:
"His arm raised, the end of it a fist,
aimed at the child at his knees, wanting
attention, a hot dog, 'I want something
to eat. I want, I want.' But he had noth
ing to give, no money, no patience, no
anything else. And fury surged up in
him as if from hell itself. And the fist
braced to explode like a bullet. And the
little girl cringed and screamed, 'please
no don't!"'
"A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and
a Prayer" also used lighting extraordinarily
well. It compounded the effects of utter dark
ness with high-noon sun effects to capture
the moods of different speakers, and often,
in the moments of darkness, a sound would
ring out, capturing the imagination of the
whole audience with a single slap or words
that echoed throughout the auditorium.
"'The Vagina Monologues' are important
because they give an excellent view to mono
logues as a separate realm of acting, and an
excellent medium for victims of violence to
be heard," said Lindberg.
At the end, there was no uplifting message
of hope, but something perhaps more elevat
ing: a sense of understanding the reality
of violence against women. Afterwards, as
the applause rose and fell again and people
slowly rose from their seats or congratulated
actons,' some' members' 'of ^ the audience lin
gered, eating their vagina-shaped chocolates
and having gained a new take on V-Day.
"The Vagina Monologues";
(Top left) Senior Mary-Pearl Monnes
tells the story of a woman’s unfamiliarity
with her clitoris. (Top center) Africana
Community Coordinator Jada Drew leads
the ensemble in the closing monologue. (Top
right) Senior Carly Mills, co-director of
the Vagina Monologues, rehearses with first-
year Elizabeth Wray, whose monologue
addresses women tortured in Bosnia.
"A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer":
(Bottom left) Sophomore Arthur Wood
portrays a self-mutilating artist (Bottom right)
Senior Clare Gillen plays a composite
character of women in the developing world.
Photos by Eric Campbeli7Guilfordian