Nearly three decades on, `Vagina Monologues' retains its impact
More than anything, longtime Solano County theater director Barbara Norris wants audiences to “come and hear these stories and be entertained and learn something.”
She referred to Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” the 1996 play, which, rooted in casual conversations with her friends, has evolved in revisions as an ongoing effort to stop violence against women and girls.
Directing a version that opens Friday night at Journey Downtown in Vacaville, Norris, in a brief telephone interview Monday night, said she didn’t want audiences to “be afraid” of the show. “I want them to try to not look at it as a dirty or nasty word,” she said.
“If we can’t say it, how are we going to do anything about violence against women?” she asked, adding that proceeds will benefit local nonprofit organizations dedicated to curbing domestic violence. They include SafeQuest Solano and The Empowerment Project.
When it premiered offoff-Broadway, a critic called “The Vagina Monologues” — a play that has gone on to have a global impact, with performances in 77 countries — “the most important piece of political theater of the decade.”
“It’s all over the world,” said Norris, best known locally for her productions in Fairfield’s Downtown Theatre and Solano College Theatre, and at Sacramento State University, where she earned a master’s degree in theater with a concentration in directing. She also taught theater at SCT and at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg. She continues to do so online for Los Medanos.
“I teach it every semester in my classes,” she said
of Ensler’s “reader’s piece,” adding, “It’s a wink-wink reader’s piece.”
Whatever shape it may take with her vision, the play, presented by On Stage Vacaville, arrives for a threeshow run at the Main Street venue during National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. And V-Day, the worldwide activist movement to end violence against women and girls, started by Ensler, is celebrated on Feb. 14, the traditional Valentine’s Day.
Featured performers are Liz Andrews, Amberly Palmer-Bailey, Gina Decker, Linda James, Jennifer Ray and Stephanie Rivas.
Ensler based her play on more than 200 interviews with women of diverse backgrounds. Her sharply witty and trenchant work explores — among other topics — consensual and nonconsensual sexual experiences,
body image, and the social stigma surrounding rape and abuse.
As you might expect, the monologues also, by turn, touch on a number of topics in ways funny, unconventional, endearing and wise. At the same time, some segments are sad, some embarrassing, but there is a compelling message: Breaking the silence regarding violence against women.
But there are some lighthearted moments, too — monologues about the intricacies of relationships, oneliners about uncomfortable gynecological exams and women’s products. Then there are happy facts and facts less so, including statistics on female genital mutilation and rape as a weapon of war, the latter still a confounding and deeply disturbing problem in 2024.
“The spoils of war is a woman,” said Norris, alluding
to the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s.
The play continues to evolve over time, and this year, she said, there is a segment about a transgender woman, about a man who becomes a woman.
For Norris, also known for bringing Free Shakespeare in the Park to both Vacaville and Fairfield, every production benefits a nonprofit group.
“That’s why I keep doing it,” she said. “This play is more relevant now than when it first came out in 1996.”
“The Empowerment Project is honored to be chosen as a partner for the upcoming presentation of ‘The Vagina Monologues,’” Sonia McClellin, the organization’s founder and president, said in a press statement. “The mission of The Empowerment Project, which is to bring awareness
about intimate partner abuse in order to stop the cycle of domestic violence, is right in line with Eve Ensler’s mission.”
“I’m so pleased and happy that On Stage Vacaville has chosen SafeQuest Solano to support through their production of ‘The Vagina Monologues,’” executive director Mary Anne Branch also said in the prepared statement. “I’ve attended the play several times. It’s a great comedy and well worth seeing.”
SafeQuest Solano provides prevention education, advocacy, and intervention services to those affected by domestic violence and sexual assault. Emphasizing client-centered and traumainformed care, SafeQuest works with partners to promote
individual, family and community transformation.
On Stage Vacaville is a volunteer-run organization dedicated to the promotion, support, development and growth of arts appreciation and programming for the Vacaville community, said Lisa Hilas, president of OSV.