REVIEW 'Vagina Monologues' empowers with truth

By L. CROW
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- New Castle Playhouse played host this weekend to two performances of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues," as part of V-Day awareness in Lawrence County.
This movement, founded by Ensler to stop violence against women and girls, is now recognized around the globe, with thousands of performances of this play every year. Local women's causes receive 90 percent of the proceeds, in this case the Lawrence Co. Crisis Shelter, and the other 10 percent goes to an international cause.
The production was directed and produced by Alissa Lemmon and Vaughn Hudspath and was particularly effective, entertaining and enlightening. The women were outstanding.
Often the show is done with only three women sitting on stools doing all the readings. Lemmon's interpretation used 17 women, including many well-known local talents costumed in reds and blacks. Though they still had script in hand, the performance was much more than a reading -- it brought the words of more than 200 women into the light with great emotion, humor and relevance. Each monologue is either the story of one individual or the thoughts of many combined.
A way to empower women
Ensler wrote the play to liberate and empower women, to celebrate the beauty of their bodies in a healthy way, to be proud of what makes them unique, and to feel comfortable with the wholeness of their being.
When Ensler asked women to write about how they felt about their vaginas, the results were far-reaching: love, disgust, discomfort and timidity. But it also identified those who truly reveled in their womanhood.
Several women referred to their vagina as "down there." In "The Flood," read by Nanette Solomon, a woman in her 70s looked back on her life and a bad experience with a boy as a teenager, from which she never recovered. Tina Cole read "The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could," about a woman who from age 5 suffered every abuse, from being punched, impaled and raped, and finally was able to find healing in a lesbian relationship.
Cindi Hall and Erica Stickel read "My Vagina Was My Village," about a Bosnian woman who was raped and mutilated as a systematic tactic of war. Stephanie Holt read a story about a woman who became ecstatic about her body in "The Vagina Workshop."
Humorous touch
A couple of the readings, however, brought the house down with laughter. Terry Newman vented about irritations -- from tampons to gynecologists to thong panties -- in "My Angry Vagina." But the real show stopper was Susan Davis, who did her interpretation of "The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy."
The tiny New Castle Playhouse annex was converted to auditorium-style seating and was nearly sold out. The performance ended with a standing ovation.