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The Vagina monologues

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Topic: The Vagina monologues

Posted By: LisaJ
Subject: The Vagina monologues
Date Posted: 8/08/05 at 5:16pm

Has anyone done The Vagina Monologues? I am proposing to our Board tonight that we do it to benefit our theatre, along with the Center for Prevention of Abuse. I haven't actually checked in to the rights as of yet; however, I was just curious how it was received in your community. Thank you.

Replies:

Posted By: tristanrobin
Date Posted: 8/08/05 at 8:20pm

It's done quite regularly here in New Haven ... this is a college
town (small city with five universities, including Yale and
Southern CT State Univesity) and it's a popular piece with
college audiences. I've seen five or six productions (in addition
to the Broadway production) and they've all been fairly well
received. I've seen it performed as it was in NYC (by one
woman) and I've seen it performed with a cast of up to 10.

It DOES have strong language, so ifyou have one of those
audiences that require everything salty removed from the script,
you will lose a lot in the translation.

But, it's very moving...educational and funny and evocative and
tragic.

Posted By: JCCTony
Date Posted: 8/09/05 at 10:21am

I know the rights are free if all the proceeds go to an abuse shelter, not sure about half and half though. I live in a fairly small conservative town and the shelter here has done it twice. The first year was awesome cause there was a lot of drama surrounding it. The shelter had to respond to angry letters to the editor on a daily basis. Protests were planned and the whole 9 yards.

No one turned out to protest and in return it got so much press they did it two nights as they sold out.

Posted By: dougb
Date Posted: 8/10/05 at 10:39am

We did TVM a year ago. I had read the script a few years before and did not like it at all. I found it mean spirited and offensive. Then a friend of mine came to me with a proposal to direct the play and wanted us to produce it. I gave her my impressions of it. Somehow she managed to convince me that the play was about love. Over my better judgement, we let her go forward with the play (three performances) and I agreed to do tech. I was so uncomfortable I never went to a rehearsal until tech. (I usually go to rehearsals several times to make sure everything is coming together). I was blown away!! It was magnificent!! Every scene was strong. Every time I saw a scene I asked myself "how do you follow that?" But every scene was different and followed in a wonderful flow that alternately made you laugh and cry.

So I was wrong but what about the audiences?

We have a 60 seat theater and did not presell tickets. Seating is first come first seated. Opening night (Thursday) we had 75 people. On Friday we had over 100 (love stacking chairs). When I got to the theater on Saturday at 6 pm (for a 7:30 performance) there was already a line waiting to get in. (I made a panic run to get more folding seats). We hit 120 that night and turned away another 100 people. We did an unscheduled performance on Sunday with no advertising - just word of mouth. We had over 100 on Sunday. We could not get the cast to find another date for more performances. Finally, in the fall we did three more performances - all oversold out - standing room only. We charged $5 for a ticket except for three fund raising performances when we charged $15. We made more profit on that show than the entire rest of our season.

A few observations. The newspaper editor, who was there on opening night, said "that word" had never appeared in his newspaper before.

A widower friend of mine said he had been married for 40 years but learned more about women that night than ever before.

The audience for our early performances were strongly weighted in favor of women - maybe 75% to 80% women. As time went on more and more men attended so we ended up the run probably 60% women. Many, many times women would appear one night and come back at another performance with their husbands.

I have read the script a couple of times since and there is still the risk that the play can be about anger and unhappiness but our production was inspiring, uplifting and caring. It is hard for a woman to stand in front of you and tell about being raped with a rifle in Bosnia and have it about love but without that it would be sensationalism. I did find love in each of the scenes and I also came to realize that some of the stereotypes I had about womens issues needed rethinking.

The play can be wonderful but, like any other production you do, it is all about how you present it.

Posted By: countbio
Date Posted: 8/11/05 at 10:45am

I have been involved in several productions of the show.

Never found anything mean about any production. Nor have I ever spoken to anyone (man or woman, straight or gay), who, after seeing the show, found it upsetting. On the other hand, lots of folks seem to be upset before they see it?! Go figure.

Obviously the show is very "pro woman". But it is certainly possible to be "pro woman" with out being "anti man". The show does have some angry moments...who is not angry about rape? But there are more that enough funny, light moments to keep it moving.

It is my understanding that all the profits have to go to charity.

Good Luck,

Countbio

Posted By: LisaJ
Date Posted: 8/11/05 at 11:54am

Thank you to everyone for your replies. I'm actually going to print out your responses for the next Board meeting for the members to read. I've actually seen the show, and I was absolutely blown away. When I presented it to the Board on Monday night, it was well received by a majority; however, as I expected, the older Board members objected. Our theatre is in its 87th year, and our older board members, along with our older season ticket holders, can be somewhat overly conservative, and I fully respect their opinions. We've ordered perusal scripts, so we'll see where it goes from there!! Thanks again!! I will be a frequent visitor to this forum, as I think it is a great resource for those of us who are passionate about theatre!!