Usually, Ohio University junior Justine Blocksom would not rant about tampons, thongs and gynecologists in front of people, but tonight she will do it in front of an audience.
Blocksom will perform the monologue My Angry Vagina in Lost Flamingo Company's sixth annual performance of The Vagina Monologues at 8 tonight in Baker Center Theatre. The monologue addresses widely used practices that irritate the vagina, such as tampons and douches.
(Societal norms) are trying to change who you really are
Blocksom said. It shouldn't be about trying to make a woman what she isn't; it should be accepting what she is.
The Vagina Monologues was written in 1996 after author Eve Ensler interviewed more than 200 women and wrote a series of monologues that relate the vagina to sex, menstruation, masturbation and birth.
Sarah Stevens, a senior studying theater performance and women's and gender studies, is directing the show for the second time.
(The play) drastically changed the direction in which I wanted my life to go said Stevens, who first read the play at age 15.
Each year, a new monologue about a current social concern is added. This year's monologue addresses human trafficking in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
No matter how much research I do I'm never going to understand what these women went through
but I'm trying like hell to
because at least I can portray her story to hopefully get other people aware and informed
said senior Katie Weber, who will perform A Teenage Girl's Guide to Surviving Sex Slavery.
Stevens said that it is important to discuss global issues, but it is crucial that audience members not dismiss the everyday problems of women.
It's clear that those issues
the very small
minute issues that you would probably think aren't big issues
are completely being ignored here in Athens
she said.
The Vagina Monologues will be performed at 8 tonight and Sunday and at 3 p.m. tomorrow with a cast talk-back immediately after the show. The $5 admission goes to My Sister's Place, a battered women's shelter in Athens; VDay, Ensler's global organization to stop violence against women and girls; and the women of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
