For two nights only, the entrance leading to the Bell Minto Theatre was guarded by a rather unusual piece of crafting—a large, cloth vagina to be exact.
If there was any doubt about the location of Carleton’s Vaginas Against Violence’s (VAV) yearly production, the words “The Vagina Monologues,” placed strategically above the clitoris, quickly absolved them.
As patrons entered it became crystal clear this was a place to celebrate women and their bodies, a theme which carried through all night and stuck with the audience even after the final bows.
VAV held the opening night for their presentation of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues March 8, which was also International Women’s Day.
The play was organized and directed by two third-year Carleton students Miriam Illman-White and Tara Sprickerhoff. Illman-White and Sprickerhoff are also co-presidents of VAV.
Planning for the Monologues began in May 2013 while auditions were held in September 2013. After 11 months of co-ordinating and organizing, when Illman-White and Sprickerhoff were asked to comment on their opening night performance, both lit up visibly.
“Tonight was amazing,” Sprickerhoff said, who was quickly echoed by her co-director.
“The audience was amazing and the cast was phenomenal as usual,” Illman-White said.
The spirit of the night was captured when the directors supplied three words to describe the first performance—“awe, passion and reverence.”
But the Monologues go beyond funny stories and amazing performances. Their message is important.
Ensler wrote The Vagina Monologues in 1996. It quickly became a form of social commentary meant to motivate people to work to end violence against women and girls.
“The purpose of [The Monologues] is to bring awareness to different aspects of the female experience—everything from orgasms to birth to the more difficult aspects such as domestic violence and rape,” Sprickerhoff said. “It also serves to de-stigmatize the word Vagina . . . the author thought that women didn’t talk about their vaginas enough and so went around asking women about their vaginas. It became the Vagina Monologues.”
Carleton’s monologues were tinged with Canadian references—a Rob Ford moan and a joke about our weather— and light humour that elevated the heavy atmosphere which manifested during the renditions of darker pieces.
“That progression was definitely intentional,” Illman-White said.
Sprickerhoff said she agreed.
“We wanted to take the audience on a ride in order to call attention to the negative everyday actions that women encounter,” she said. “We made sure to also highlight the positive aspects brought forward by the production.”
This response echoed what cast member Paige Fisher said when asked about the challenges presented by the Monologues themselves.
“We had to acknowledge the limitations of the Monologues and by doing so we were able to work on developing our characters,” she said.
Emily Kennedy was another actor in the monologues. As she played a trans woman, she said she had to find a way to get into her character.
“Through discussions we learned to sympathize [with our personas] but we could not empathize with all of them,” Kennedy said. “The trans characters were a new addition to this presentation and we attempted to represent [their roles] honestly.”
The Monologues were an experience for the audience who gave the cast a standing ovation after the show, but Illman-White and Sprickerhoff are taking away more than success from this production.
“We have learned how to identify our strengths and our weaknesses,” Sprickerhoff said.
And as the Monologues are about community and solidarity, it makes sense that teamwork was an important part of putting on the show.
“We also learned about vulnerability and the power of teamwork during this process,” Illman-White said.
Connectivity among the female community is an underlying point emphasized by the Vagina Monologues and Carleton’s production was a simultaneously evocative yet grounding and dynamic piece of art.
Ninety per cent of the proceeds from the show are donated to the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre which coincides with VAV’s message of “[actively], promoting equality on campus, and being open to healthy and respectful dialogues about feminism.”
Inside Bell Theatre, surrounded by dedicated women and a giant cloth vagina, their message was clear.
