The Vagina Monologues, Eight years and Strong

Elaine Shumacher, Staff Reporter

elaine_shumacher@csumb.edu

Feb.14, 2008

If club EMPOWER, the Emergency Management Professional Organization for Women’s Enrichment, rehearsal is any indication of what is to come, “The Vagina Monologues,” will be the most compelling to date.  

In its eighth year, the “The Vagina Monologues” is the longest student run production at CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and the curtain will rise once again on Feb. 15 and 16 at 8 p.m. at the World Theater.  

Director Denise Huey, a BA graduate of CSUMB and currently in the masters in education program, stepped up to direct the show after the past director changed schools.  Huey acted in pervious years and is an already active woman in the community.

 “This year we have a new assistant director, Rayna Jansen, a Teledramatic Arts and Technology major in her junior year; and assistant producer, Amy Rothenberger, a senior Liberal Studies major, who will be able to continue the tradition next year.”

“The Vagina Monologues” is an education and empowerment of females who may think they have no voice showing actors transform themselves into the voices of rape, acid victims, and females facing genital mutilation. 

Leslie Mooring and Ashley Paolini, a junior transfer student from Diablo Valley College, majoring in TAT, give fervent introductions into the monologues and prepare audiences for a journey to a familiar, yet foreign place.  

Eleshea Kidd, a senior and a Human Communications major with a concentration in Pre-law, gives a humorous and touching monologue as an older woman recalling experiences that have affected her character’s life.  

 “I got interested in “The Vagina Monologues” last year after watching the performances.  Not only were they moving, but the message was so important for women and also men,” said Dani Dahl, a sophomore and Liberal Studies major, who introduces the Monologues.

“The Vagina Monologues,” written by Eve Ensler in 1996, originally started in the basement of the Cornelia Street Café in downtown New York.  Five years later, it played at Madison Square Garden with an all star cast.  Every year, young women at local colleges perform it around Valentine’s Day as part of a nationwide campaign to stop violence against women.  This year all proceeds go to the women of New Orleans, or the Katrina Warriers, who symbolize the universal plight of women in conflict zones who experience high levels of violence; economic hardship; racism; and public structures that failed to protect them.

The Monologues leaves nothing to the imagination and will provide an evening of entertainment that will not be forgotten.  Admission is $7 for students with a valid ID and $15 for the general public.