Daughters of Eve: Dominguez Hills Celebrates 10th Anniversary of “The Vagina Monologues”

The Department of Theatre Arts at California State University, Dominguez Hills presents performances of "The Vagina Monologues" by Eve Ensler, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The play, based on Ensler’s 200 interviews with real women, is part of a worldwide movement to stop domestic violence against women and girls, and has been performed on the Dominguez Hills campus since 2000. Performed as a reading, “The Vagina Monologues” will be presented at 7 p.m. on March 4 and 5 in the University Theatre. This production is co-sponsored by Teatro Dominguez, the Dominguez Bridge Theatre Company, and Associated Students, Inc.

This year’s production is directed by alumna Naomi Buckley (Class of ’00, B.A., theatre arts), who draws upon her first exposure to the play.

“What made me want to direct it was going back to the first time I saw it as an audience member, because it’s such an amazing piece and it’s so powerful,” says Buckley. “I came to the show with an open mind, but I had certainly heard all the preceding drama that surrounds it: ‘They say the C-word in it. It’s about vaginas, and there’s moaning...’ And I wondered, ‘Is this a burlesque show or a piece of theatre?’ But everything melts away once you’re in the audience. You immediately recognize it as something powerful and truthful and speaking to something that hasn’t been spoken to openly in our culture.”

Since its first sold-out performance on February 14, 1998, at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom, “The Vagina Monologues” has been performed all over the world in theaters, community centers, churches, and college campuses and spurred a domestic violence awareness movement known as V-Day. Collectively, performances have raised more than $50 million for the cause. At least 10 percent of box office profits wherever the play is performed are dedicated to anti-domestic violence programs in those communities. Proceeds from the Dominguez Hills production will assist the Peace and Joy Care Center in Carson.

Buckley is proud of her cast, a group of 11 actresses that she says showcases the diversity at Dominguez Hills. The cast includes students Candace Boutte and Akida Quarles-Crosley; faculty members Jherilyn Crisostomo, Joyce Johnson and Doris Ressl; alumnae Shonni Albritton (Class of '04, B.A., theatre arts), Karla Pitman (Class of '99, B.A., psychology/theatre arts) and Susan Thrasher (Class of '02, B.A., theatre arts/English); staff members Loretta Adikhai and Melodee Wilcox; and community member Clarice Torrey.

“I feel really blessed to have the women we have in the cast,” she says. “Eve says to display diversity, that we want all kinds of women in the cast. We had a lot of people come out to audition, and I tried to pick the people who would best reflect our campus and our community. We’ve got a lot of wonderful African American actresses, older women, younger women, white women, a Filipina. This is a show that brings all kinds of people out: people who have never acted before, those who just heard stories about it, and those who just want to come and see what it’s about.”

Buckley says that another group that could definitely learn from “The Vagina Monologues” is men.

“We want men in the audience as much as women,” she says. “It’s very open and inclusive in the way that you can be a man and watch it and get something out of it. There are certain things about being a woman and having a vagina that men don’t deal with, just as there are certain things about being a man that we don’t deal with. But I think that’s what sticks with them, this kind of visceral experience that you get just from listening to all the different ways that Eve explores the topic. Also, there is a sense of empowerment for men to say it’s okay to be vulnerable and that there is a strength in this feminine nature that is wonderful to indulge in and to accept and to appreciate all those things, in yourself, in your spouse, in your girlfriend, your mother, and all these people who are female and have vaginas.”

Asked if “Monlogues” will pave the way for a similar play about the male organ, Buckley says, “I think that things like that are going to happen and I think, what a wonderful thing to have that exist, because men need a space to talk about those kinds of things as well, and not just in a machismo ‘mine’s bigger than yours’ kind of way.

“One of my actresses said the most interesting thing to me,” notes Buckley. “She said that one of the things that she thinks is different about men and women in the way that they think about their genitalia. Men will say sometimes, ‘I feel like more of a man,’ in reference to the way that they use it or how big it is, or whatever. She said, ‘But I always feel like a woman. When my vagina works, I feel like a woman, when it doesn’t work, when it gives me pleasure, or doesn’t give me pleasure.’ So it would be interesting to hear all the different aspects of men and how they interact with that part of their body.”

Buckley hopes that whatever the reason, audiences will see “The Vagina Monologues” and perpetuate its grassroots mission.

“People want to see it just because of all the weird things they’ve heard about it, and by sitting in the audience, they are changed and realize it’s not just a shock piece,” she says. “They are now part of this force and it’s a wonderful thing.

“I tell my cast that the real power comes from words and the fact that this [play] came from real women and that there is truth and honesty in it,” Buckley emphasizes. “If they can attach themselves to that and ride it, that is where the power comes from. It’s about us as a community coming together and doing this as a whole, not just as individuals. What a feminine concept.”

Ticket prices are $5 with valid CSUDH i.d. or pre-sale orders, or $8 for general admission or sales at the door. Box office hours are 2:30-6 p.m., except for performance days when it is open until showtime. Reserved tickets may be picked up until 30 minutes before showtime. For tickets to “The Vagina Monologues,” call (310) 243-3589.

To learn more about “The Vagina Monologues” and V-Day, click here.

- Joanie Harmon