A tulip, a cellar, a shell, a peach, a heart, a black hole, a destiny; innocent, wild and mysterious - all of these words describe the vagina, according to Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” a yearly Womyn’s Action Coalition-sponsored tradition at Geneseo.
The central theme of “The Vagina Monologues” a discussion of women’s understanding of their vaginas. There are many additional layers of meaning beneath this surface, however. The play is comprised of a series of monologues based on interviews Ensler conducted with real women on subjects of sexuality, female identity and abuse.
Seniors Sara Koste and Megan Staudenraus co-directed the show, adding a discernible new tone and interesting twists that they said have been in the works since last May.
The monologues themselves range from hilariously relatable to heartbreaking, but all of them share a sense of biting truth. This year’s cast of women exudes thoughtful confidence, portraying their characters with a sense of conversational reality that allowed the show’s messages to shine brightly through.
According to Koste, the show’s director’s notes call the cast activists first, not actors. While some of the monologues such as “My Vagina Was My Village” - performed tenderly by junior Maria Sigalas and senior Allison Hoppe - directly confront issues of sexual assault, each of them addresses identity and freedom in its own way.
“You speak from another woman’s perspective [in the monologues]. While it’s a collection of individuals and it’s not your voice, you learn something from all those individual voices,” Staudenraus said. “A part of that person becomes a part of you.”
The directors incorporated an “optional monologue” into this year’s show, one released by Ensler in addition to the play’s traditional program. Junior Alli Cropsey performed “They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy … Or So They Tried,” a monologue about a transgender person’s experiences, with raw emotion and pride.
Cropsey said “The Vagina Monologues” sends a message to people of all backgrounds, “that there’s someone who has been through something they’ve been through, and they don’t have to go through that alone - that they don’t have to be ashamed or afraid to live in the world they live in.”
Because of its unique character as a tradition at Geneseo, “The Vagina Monologues” has consistently touched and empowered audiences as well as cast members.
Senior Dara Gell, a three-year “Vagina Monologues” veteran who performed the shockingly hilarious “The Woman Who Liked To Make Vaginas Happy” with a new dignity this year, said the show has been a pillar in her Geneseo experience.
“It’s a place unlike anything that exists, in which you’re surrounded by a whole bunch of women who are on the same page and want to help you,” Gell said. “It changed my life. It made me know that I had to be there for people who needed someone by their side.”
Koste also added, “When I came into the show I was like ‘Yes bad things happen to people and that’s horrible.’ But it hit home … you can’t live in ignorance of what happens in the world around you even if it doesn’t happen to you.”
Freshman Maya Harari who performed the show’s opening monologue “Hair” embodies “The Vagina Monologues” as a lasting legacy at Geneseo.