'Vagina Monologues' raise awareness, inspire laughter

I came into this show with an open mind. At first, I expected, as a cynical male, that I would be grossed out, alienated and overall made to feel awkward by what I thought was going to be a vulgar celebration of women's genitalia. \nLuckily, I tried my best to have a mature attitude, because I thoroughly enjoyed "The Vagina Monologues," which were performed Thursday at the Willkie Auditorium for $7 (for IU students) as a part of V-Day, a movement to eliminate violence against women through raising awareness.\n"The Vagina Monologues" is not a show that people should see, rather it is a show that people need to see, because it attacks issues rarely dealt with by men or women. Playwright Eve Ensler examines why women are so afraid of their bodies. Ensler points out in her show that most women have never even looked at their vaginas, out of fear. The show analyzes different attitudes taken toward female sexuality, but overall supports the notion that women should be comfortable with their sexual side. Also, the show takes a look at the growing problem of violence against women, through the new monologues written by cast members for the V-Day movement and through other dramatic selections previously created by Ensler.\nThe show is organized into monologues by different types of women, all compiled from actual interviews with women.\nBloomington resdient Diane Kondrat gives what was probably the best performance of the evening with her scene, "The Flood" in which she plays an elderly woman who is afraid of her vagina because of her experiences with flooding. She compares her vagina to an old basement, "You just don't go down there." Using incredible voice and gestures, Kondrat does an excellent job of immediately building a character that is believable and likeable. \nFreshman Sarah Yeazel forced the audience to burst out in laughter with her uproarious piece, "My Angry Vagina." In her scene, she lashes out against tampons, scented douches and other female products in a monologue that is both empowering and hilarious.\nAlongside Bloomington resident Sarah Hahn's monologue on moaning, "The Women Who Liked to Make Vaginas Happy," graduate student Gina Senarighi inspired laughter in the audience through her different renditions of female moans including the "northern moan," which sounds like one of the cast members of the movie "Fargo" having an orgasm.\nJunior Tiffani Jones also broke up much of the humor with a very chilling portrayal of a woman subjet to violence in Afghanistan. She recreated a rape scene where soldiers shoved barrels of guns in her vagina until parts of it ripped off. Jones used appropriate pauses to strick a chord with the audience. \nSophomore director Megan Anderson and master's student producer Debby Herbenick (who both gave excellent performances in the show) did an excellent job of developing interesting characters with their cast. It is also fortunate that they found so many talented actresses, because the fact that no woman plays more than one character adds to the effect, because with their well-defined characters, it would be difficult to suddenly switch gears and see them as somebody else. \nMy only complaints about the show would have to be in the selections that were written specifically for V-Day by the cast.\nIn the new scenes, three men, Bloomington residents Ben Barone, Patrick Kinsman, and junior Clinton Wolfe, attempt to provide a different view on female violence, from the perspective of the men who love these women. Although I appreciate the different angle and the writing in this piece is fairly moving, the performances were lackluster. All three males sit lifelessly in chairs with very few gestures, sometimes monotone voices and a complete lack of emotional levels or climaxes. One would think with a script they wrote themselves from their own experiences, that they would perform it exceptionally, or at least have their parts memorized and not read their lines off note cards (I wouldn't even notice these note cards if they didn't stare at them when not speaking and even gesture with them once or twice). Also, because I only saw the overly sappy sensitive side on stage, I had a hard time seeing any of these guys as abusive sexual predators.\nOn the other hand, the female V-Day monologue was well written, empowering and energetic. Although it did go on a little too long and sometimes brought up issues that dealt nothing with female violence, such as not supporting "power from oil" in respect with the potential war with Iraq, it was a very fine end to an entertaining evening. \nOverall, if these performances could make someone like me, who usually leaves the room in disgust when feminine hygiene is brought up, break out in laughter and be touched by dramatic points, then the cast is obviously doing something right.