This past Thursday in the student center auditorium was the opening of the ninth annual production of the “Vagina Monologues.”
Over the past nine years, the EMU Women’s Center has raised more than $55,000 dollars for charities such as SafeHouse.
As Women’s Resource Center Program Coordinator Jessica Klein stated when she took the stage, this was not just a show but a coming together to help stop violence against women. Running 90 minutes long, the sold out performance took the audience on an intense ride from start to finish.
The start of the show drew the audience in with its soft conversational tone. It was easy to get lost into the monologue of what was happening because the actress seemed to be addressing the entirety of the auditorium instead of a random third person.
Camille Woods does a fantastic job in “Hair,” conveying her ultimate disgust with shaving her vagina for her cheating husband. The message was really conveyed with tactful uses of pausing. It gave the image of leaving something left unsaid even though her non-verbals explained everything.
“My Angry Vagina,” performed by Britney Winn, had the entirety of auditorium in laughing fits. Instead of walking on to the stage from the wings like the other acts, Winn pushes her way in from between the curtains.
If one could not tell the tone of this piece from its unusual entrance then there was no doubt as soon as Winn opened her mouth.
Everything in this performance, from her use of hands, voice and body language, had a purpose in getting the message across that her vagina was pissed.
Audience members proved that they had something to say in the monologue “Reclaiming Cunt.” Actress Brandy Taylor got the audience members to help reclaim this word by getting them to shout cunt at the top of their lungs in a type of rant that lasted until the lights went down.
“My expectations were exceeded,” Freshman audience member Margaret Chisholm said. “The show was funny, sad and thought provoking.”
The finale of this show was given by co-directors Mary Larkin, program coordinator for the LGBT resource center, and Mae Kyles.
Together they read a monologue about the rules for survival in the Congo. Though this was just a simple reading, the inflection was chilling and the words were hard hitting.
With the final sentence being, “No one can take anything from you, if you don’t give it to them,” this piece gave a sense of empowerment that finished this year’s “Vagina Monologues” on a powerful high note.
