It has been more than 20 years since Eve Ensler's play, The Vagina Monologues, first shattered taboos with its debut, but its relevance continues to grow rather than be diminished with the passing years.
The play shocked with stories that hadn’t been told before — and with words not commonly or comfortably uttered — in the voice of women.
The Vagina Monologues not only birthed a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, but it also empowered women to tell their stories to create change.
Director Angel Freedman is bringing The Vagina Monologues to Newmarket for the third time Feb. 15 and 16 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Old Town Hall, with the proceeds going to Yellow Brick House and the York Region Women’s Support Network.
The current #MeToo movement has only made The Vagina Monologues stories — and the messages behind them — that much more meaningful, Freedman said.
The monologues in the production celebrate womanhood and condemn sexual oppression and the abuse of women’s bodies, she said, based on Ensler’s interviews with 200 women who shared thoughts and anecdotes about the feminine experience, sex, relationships and, sometimes, violence.
The female voices are wildly divergent, from a six-year-old girl to a septuagenarian New Yorker, to a vagina workshop participant and a woman witnessing her granddaughter’s birth, to a Bosnian survivor of rape and a feminist happy to have found a man who "liked to look at it".
The production debuted in 1996 in a one-woman-monologue off-Broadway show, and it spread like wildfire around the world, with ensemble casts that often starred and were supported by celebrities.
The production aims to create reactions and evoke emotions — it’s thought-provoking, outrageous, disturbing at times and, more often, amusing and entertaining
The eight women who make up the cast for the February production are business owners and professionals, activists, authors, mothers, daughters, each selected by Freedman and first-time producer Sterling Williams not only for their acting abilities but for the personal challenge their roles bring to them.
They have been rehearsing for months on Sunday evenings in the Newmarket Public Library community room, creating a strong bond of “sisterhood” throughout the process.
The 2019 Newmarket production marks the seventh time Freedman has produced or directed The Vagina Monologues, with shows performed in Toronto, Richmond Hill and Markham.
The first production in 2011, part of International Women’s Day events in Richmond Hill, was controversial because of its name, never mind the issues the monologues raise.
“There was shock around the word ‘vagina’ — that hasn’t changed, the word is still whispered by many people. I don’t know why the word is so controversial," Freedman said. “But once they see the play, I receive beautiful reviews, people love it.”
Cast member Anja Simmons readily admits it was uncomfortable initially for her to say the word “vagina” — she preferred “hooha”, she added with a chuckle — and even to hear it spoken so often during rehearsals. Her role is a woman who had ignored her vagina until she attended a vagina workshop.
The Thornhill parenting coach and mother of three auditioned simply for the experience, never expecting a call that she had been chosen for the part.
And now, months into rehearsal, she becomes emotional, choking back tears, when talking about the importance of speaking out.
“I knew I wanted to step up so women realize there is a choice,” Simmons said.
It’s a common thread among all the cast members, feeling an obiligation to create awareness about women’s issues and to advocate for equality and justice.
“A lot of women don’t have the capacity to speak out, depending on the situation they live in, so there’s an obligation for us who can do this to do this,” Judy Karacs said.
“If we just sit back and say, ‘Oh, what can I do?’ Or ‘I can’t do anything’, then what happens is nothing happens. So it’s important to do something — everybody — even if it’s just to bring awareness to open somebody’s eyes, to change somebody’s perspective, it’s important.”
The Toronto resident will be portraying a woman raped by soldiers in Bosnia — rehearsing the role is “an emotional rollercoaster” for her, as she said she feels the responsibility of being the voice for women who have survived rape.
“It’s hard, it’s raw, there’s no sugar coating,” said Karacs, who draws on her own roots, recalling stories told by her grandmother about abuses that occurred during the war in Hungary.
Merav Richter, an author and performer who was recently a TEDxNewmarket speaker, is one of two returning cast members. She said the #MeToo Movement and other recent events have increased her feelings of urgency about creating awareness and speaking out.
“Things have come to the forefront. We have to face this now because we’re having discussions with our colleagues, friends, and family,” the Richmond Hill resident said. “Misogyny has the microphone right now, so we need to have a megaphone, right? This gives us a megaphone.”
Richter takes on a challenging monologue in which she boldly “reclaims” a taboo word, saying it repeatedly — often to gasps of shock, and plenty of laughter, in the audience — to demonstrate its power and beauty.
Yet it’s a “trigger” word for many women, she said, and it can bring powerful emotions to the surface because it’s commonly used in a pejorative manner.
She also performs the Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy, also known as “The Moaner” monologue.
Kim Short, a Richmond Hill small business owner, is returning to the cast for the fifth time performing Because He Liked to Look At It, and The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could.
As the mother of three young daughters, she strongly feels a need to “be a part of the movement”.
“I want to be a role model for my daughters. I want to raise them to be feminists, to be strong women," Short said. "There’s a renewed sense that we have to be a part of this because of what’s going on in the world and in our own country."
“It’s an opportunity to reach women and men who don’t really understand the message, and have them come on this journey with us and be a part of this movement until we don’t have to do it anymore. We’re still doing it because the awareness isn’t there,” she added.
Inspired by her mother and sisters, "the strongest women I know", producer Williams also feels motivated by the opportunity to provoke thoughts and create awareness "on the various plights of women and women’s rights and what we can do to help be the change".
The Newmarket resident, who works on Main Street as a hair stylist and colour specialist, sees her involvement in the production both as way to give back to her community and to support local arts.
Richmond Hill resident Andria Sakitkovski, a mother of two teenaged children, speaks to the personal challenge that comes with being a cast member of The Vagina Monologues.
As a driven, career-oriented woman who has succeeded in a sector with a global firm that few other women have, she said, “After constantly doing for others, this is for me.”
Sakitkovski, who was encouraged to audition by Freedman after a chance meeting in the community, is performing The Angry Vagina monologue.
“I think anger is part of our movement,” she said. “Anger is a natural part of defining oneself, you can’t be strong without having anger first. You have to almost overcome it, go through it, to get beyond anger,” she said.
Ora Goldin, a drum circle facilitator, wellness leader and consultant, also saw taking on the role as an opportunity for personal growth.
“I had been searching to be a part of something bigger than myself … this came my way and I felt it was everything I wanted — being part of a powerful group of women, owning my femininity, owning my voice, working through some challenges I have with my body — it was everything and more," Goldin said.
The Richmond Hill resident, whose monologue opens the production, echoes her fellow cast members in sharing a desire to be a spokesperson for “women who swallow their voice” because they feel shame.
“If I can be a part of re-igniting a fire for something that needs to be addressed, I need to do it.”
Woodbridge resident Michele Donnelly revels in her monologue, I Was There in the Room, in which Ensler describes the birth of her granddaughter in graphic detail and positive wonder.
She gave birth to her own children at home, and her mother was in the room for each one.
Previously acting only in minor parts — “pound dog No. 3 in Snoopy or Broomhilda in Snow White” she said, with a laugh — the mother of four felt it was a time in her life “to step up” given the current social and political changes in our world.
“How can you not want to stand up for equality of rights for women? What we’re still fighting for today?”
The cast also includes Barrie resident Catherine Perkins, who wasn't available for the interview, performing the Hair monologue.
Freedman is acknowledged as having a knack for finding the perfect cast member for each of the challenging monologues.
And while “spreading the message” of The Vagina Monologues is powerful motivation to continue to be involved in the production, equally important has become the opportunity to empower each cast member to take her own journey of self-discovery and growth.
“Women have grown from being in this play. They’ve connected to their femininity — to their feminist — and it really opens their eyes to what is happening in our world. I’ve watched women grow in relationships, in their workplace, in their friendships. It’s really incredible. It really is beautiful, it’s like allowing them to be themselves,” Freedman said.
For tickets to The Vagina Monologues Feb. 15 and 16 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Old Town Hall, with proceeds going to Yellow Brick House and the York Region Women’s Support Network, click here.
