‘The Vagina Monologues’ take taboos to heart

The women of Company Carolina look to have the word “taboo” dropped from our collective vocabularies.

The Company is presenting Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” this Saturday in Hanes Art Center.

“I think part of the allure of it – and why it’s called what it’s called – is because people aren’t really comfortable with that word,” said senior Kalli Smith, a narrator in the show. “If you peel back the layers of it, it’s not only about the word, but it’s about women’s experiences which we don’t really talk about either.”

This will be the first time Company Carolina has performed the piece, taking the reins from the now defunct Carolina V-Day initiative, said producer Stephanie Waaser.

“It’s really an examination of what it is to be a woman physically and mentally as well as emotionally,” Waaser said. “It’s more about discovery than anything else.”

What started out as a one-woman show has evolved through the years to incorporate entire ensemble casts.

Freshman Hannah Fussell, who performs in the play, said that her male friends didn’t seem to understand what the piece was about.

“They would look at me like I had just flashed them or something, and that’s so funny because that’s exactly what Eve wanted,” Fussell said.

Ensler wrote the script to engage the audience, making it more than just something to watch and forget about, Fussell said.

“I think the biggest point of this play is sparking discussion,” Smith said. “It’s not only about getting the audience to react and talk afterwards, but we as a cast had to talk to each other about it because it brought up issues within us, as well.”

This year’s show will be composed of 12 monologues put on by a cast of 16 women.

Co-director Jordi Coats, a senior, said that the monologues are formatted in an intimate party-style gathering, in which the narrators serve as hostesses.

“We wanted to make the venue comfortable and more accessible, and also to make the statement that we’re talking about these things in a living room, and you can too,” Coats said. “Don’t make it taboo, don’t make it inappropriate.”

Each year, Ensler writes a new monologue to keep the play relative and modern, she said. This year’s iteration of the play highlights Haiti. Proceeds of this year’s show will go to the Orange County Rape Crisis Center and Haiti relief efforts.

Aside from the script, the rest of the play has been flexible enough so that each actress can develop her own character and bring a sense of realism to the piece through costuming and voice, Coats said.

“I think that it’s really given each performer more purpose and more ownership over their monologue as well,” she said.

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