NU students create a fresh take on Ensler’s 1996 play, ‘Vagina Monologues’

By Annie Henderson, News Staff

The vagina: Half of the world has one, and yet bringing it up in conversation will make most people squeamish and uncomfortable. That’s why senior Kate Downey and junior Anita Shriver, both theatre majors, decided to craft a play that gives a realistic and honest approach to women’s relationships with their vaginas.
“As a culture and as individuals, we’re not honest when it comes to talking about the vagina,” Downey said. “We want to speak to the problems and issues surrounding the topic, especially as it relates to our own community, as college students.”
Downey and Shriver, co-writers and directors of “The Vagina Play,” said they took inspiration from Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” a production that has been running for 15 years, and has been performed all over the United States, including at Northeastern. Ensler’s project aims to end violence against women. Shriver said she thinks Ensler’s goal is noble, but out of context for their project.
“The Vagina Monologues” have become dated, cliché, almost a joke,” Downey said.
To gain a fresh perspective on the subject, the duo said they decided to conduct interviews around campus, asking people to speak openly about vaginas. They used the material from these interviews to prompt discussion between themselves and their cast. During the rehearsal process, Downey and Shriver said they urged the actresses working on “The Vagina Play” to improvise, come up with their own ideas, and have fun with the process.
“The girls who showed up were incredibly excited to play, but also to be honest,” Downey said. “There’s no sugar-coating here.”
The co-directors have been working with their cast for about two months. During that time, they said their concept has been transformed and re-molded through group efforts.
“We really wanted the process to be fluid,” Shriver said. “We’re constantly creating and working new ideas into the script.”
The script has evolved into a roughly 35-minute production featuring Kelsey Mclaughlin, junior theatre and cinema studies major; Hayley Perkins, middler theatre major; Vivian Yee, senior theatre major; Amanda Czerminski, senior theatre major and Sophia Schrand, senior behavioral neuroscience and theatre major.
Shriver and Downey said they found the actresses by reaching out to the theatre department with an announcement about their personal project; anyone who wanted to be involved ended up being a part of the cast.
“Working with this group has been amazing,” Shriver said. “Everyone is so supportive but at the same time we’re up front and we push each other.”
Downey said it was heartbreaking that they had to throw away some great ideas they couldn’t fit in.
“We ended up with just this short, lovely, honest story,” Shriver said.
“The Vagina Play” will be performed Feb. 3 at 10:45 p.m. and Feb. 4 at 6 p.m. in the Itty Bitty Theatre at 334 Ryder Hall.