The Vagina Monologues (VMs) are based on interviews from over 200 women about their personal experiences and memories of their sexuality. The VMs is coming to the University of Tampa for the fourth time.
This year, there are three heads for the performance; including Kateylyn Soja, Gina Moccil and Jessica Fontaine.
Soja, a senior, stated, “My involvement in the VMs has had a really good impact on my family. I have three brothers, my dad and every time they wanted to ask about the show, they’d ask how’s that thing you’re doing. Now I’ve been doing it for so long, they can actually ask how’s The Vagina Monologues going?”
The book The Vagina Monologues written by Eve Ensler, gives a good background for watching the performance and explains what they include.
The synopsis on the back cover of the book states that “The Vagina Monologues is a celebration of female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery.
“In this stunning phenomenon that has swept the nation, Eve Ensler gives us real women’s stories of intimacy, vulnerability, and sexual self-discovery.
“Witty and irreverent, compassionate and wise, Eve Ensler’s, Obie Award-winning masterpiece gives a voice to women’s deepest fantasies and fears, guaranteeing that everyone who reads it will never look at a woman’s body, or think of sex, in quite the same way again.”
It is not only an eye-opening book; it is also an eye-opening performance for adults from all walks of life to see.
“It’s a really fun show. The first time I saw it I was a freshmen. I was really scared to see it, but it was a lot of fun seeing and it really opened my eyes and ears to vaginas,” said Soja.
The synopsis continues, “Celebrated as the bible for a new generation of women, The Vagina Monologues has been performed in cities all across America and at hundreds of college campuses.
It has inspired a dynamic grassroots movement – V-Day – to stop violence against women.”
The VMs will be performed Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in Reeves Theatre.
The tickets are priced at $5.00 for the general public, $3.00 with any student ID, and $1.00 for anyone who wears pink and/or black beads.
Eight percent of the proceeds will be going towards the Ophelia Project and the Boys Initiative of Tampa Bay. Both programs work specifically with at-risk youth.
For more information on The Vagina Monologues, you can purchase the book or visit www.vday.org/home.
Yasaman Sherbaf can be reached at ysherbaf@spartans.ut.edu.