The Vagina Monologues was written in the ‘90s by Eve Ensler—an American playwright—based on interviews she conducted with 200 women. The monologues cover a variety of topics, from hilarious tales of dry tampons and shaving mishaps, to horrifying recollections of war rapes and childhood molestation.
Vaginas Against Violence (VAV) has been putting on the play for more than 10 years, according to co-director and performer Renée Antoine, and all proceeds go towards the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre (ORCC).
The performances, however, do not stay the same. Former director and four-time performer Letycia Henriques said changes are made every year in terms of which monologues are performed and to the references included. A new addition this year was the inclusion of musical numbers, including a powerful song by Larissa Desrosiers about missing and murdered Indigenous women.
This year there were also pop culture references to the Internet’s newest meme, Damn Daniel, the year’s favourite Top-40 songs, and several jabs at CUSA’s clubs and societies funding. The performance included poems and new monologues that addressed intersectional issues the original play lacked, including the struggles of Indigenous women and transgender women. Antoine also performed Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” in honour of Black History Month.
Antoine said the reason VAV started and continued putting on the show was to raise awareness about women’s issues, as well as help the ORCC.
“I think they wanted to . . . show people that women do go through different things and try to get people in solidarity,” Antoine said. “We want to bring awareness to violences that are against women because it happens very often.”
“I think it’s important to showcase different issues that women face, and I think it’s such a creative way to do so,” Henriques added. “Even though there are some things that need to be changed with the play—and that’s something we acknowledge as a club—it brings a community together and it’s a space where we can talk about women’s issues.”
Dhruhi Shah, a representative from the ORCC, said the event’s collaboration with the organization is very important, both because of the financial contributions as well as the awareness it raises.
“We can hire more counsellors to get the waiting list shorter, we can have more volunteer training programs . . . It’s really important training for us,” she said. “It [also] opens up a huge dialogue for people that come and are like ‘Wow—this dialogue really hit me’ or ‘This dialogue, I wasn’t too sure about.’”
Antoine and Henriques both agree that it’s a play for everyone, even though a lot of its criticisms are fair.
Michael Boulet, a Trent University student who attended the show while in town, said it opened his eyes to a lot of women’s issues.
“It was really enlightening. I would recommend it to any guy who wants to learn about vaginas and women’s issues. . . It brought to light issues I’d never really thought about.”
Antoine said she hopes people leave the show having learned something new about women’s issues, and sparks them to learn more.
“I hope they’re less afraid of the word ‘vagina’ and can say it more freely,” she added, laughing. “I believe everyone should come and see it. I think they’ll have a great time. I’ve had girls as well as guys tell me they enjoyed it, they had a lot of fun, it was funny, and it was heart-wrenching at some times. I think it’s a good play for everyone to come and see.”
