Vagina Monologues
Subject: Wow! The Vagina Monologues…I’m really not quite sure where to start. When I first heard about this performance, my freshman year, my first thought was “…interesting, at best.” I never thought of this as a show what I would attend, much less have to attend. Now, here it is my junior year, enrolled in Theatre Arts, and on my way to the performance. My thoughts prior to the show consisted of sheer curiosity and I was almost anxious to see what it was all about.
When the show ended, I can honestly say that it wasn’t one that I particularly enjoyed. The main reason is because of how uncomfortable that I felt, the entire time. I was surprised at how raw, the show was and how open they discussed the topics that they did. The segment of the show that stuck out in my mind the most was the very last monologue, the 2007 Spotlight Monologue. It was in this performance that they spoke of the reasons and the importance of the Vagina Monologues. It was at this point that, even though I didn’t “enjoy” it per say, I felt that it did have a purpose. In this monologue, they spoke of some interesting key aspects of theatre that were/are good to take into consideration. One of these included the statement that theatre demands the audience to be where the actors are, the exact quote stated “theatre takes you there and drops you off.” In this monologue they also gave some actual “real world” data about women that will be in back of my mind forever.
posted by jon weems @ 1:50 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
You mentioned that you did not particularly enjoy The Vagina Monologues, but yet you saw some kind of value in them. Obviously, many people feel uncomfortable by The Vagina Monologues, and I was just wondering if you thought that if the show had been more comfortable and less conformational that more people would have seen its purpose as well. For a show to get its meaning across, the first thing it has to do is get people to show up for the performance. Maybe, the show would not have had the same impact on the purposes of theater if it had been less confrontational, but perhaps it would have taught more people about women’s issues if certain audiences felt more comfortable seeing the show.
Did you like how raw this show was or would you take the southern baptist view and shy away from these topics and hope they were filtered down and take the whole thing that makes this show stick out? I agree with in that I also liked the last monologue. it was nice that it ended with showing that this did have a purpose and wasn't just trying to piss off the bible belt of the south.
Did you think that the whole show had a purpose, or just certain parts of it? As I’ve read over meditations on the monologues, it seems that people appreciated monologues discussing the injustices against women during wartime, but they did not like monologues about shaving or looking at one’s vagina. Is it because the wartime monologues took a more serious stance? Or is there something more comfortable in discussing horrible things occurring in other countries? I was uncomfortable during the monologues at some points; do you think men are more uncomfortable (not really understanding the events women go through), or do you think women were more uncomfortable (seeing a sensitive issue thrown around onstage)?
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