Walking into Merrick Theater, there was a feeling of intimacy, as each performer was so close to the audience. The Vagina Monologues ran for four days, Thursday through Sunday, in the auxiliary room of Spingold Theater, giving people what can only be explained as a very powerful and moving performance with an important message for everyone. The event started with a performance done by Shira Harary ’17 talking about the priorities one should have and who has the biggest say over someone’s vagina. The answer, according to the monologue: the person’s vagina itself. People of all ages have had different experiences with their own vaginas, and if women are asked, they will talk about them. Performances were inspired by stories of various people in different stages of life. The Monologues are also composed of stories with different backgrounds, all leading to different experiences. The stories were all equally important and yet, sometimes hard to hear. Each performer had to take someone else’s story and convey it with enough feeling and meaning as if it were theirs.

To start, the message of being able to talk about your vagina turned into how to respect it and appreciate it. You learn about how the vagina has been abused and forgotten. The vagina has a voice, and it is loud. Specifically, in one powerful performance, people were asked, “If your vagina could talk, what would it say?” Various answers were given, however the ultimate message was that your vagina would say, “Slow down;” it needed to be recognized and appreciated, not dressed up and spoken for. Another very moving performance acted by Viola Dean ’18, Mariel Guzman ’19 and Sydney Sahasrabudhe ’17 retraced how people felt about their vaginas in different stages in their lives. The way the three actresses conveyed the message as one evoked emotion throughout the room. This particular performance retraced what women can remember thinking but also what they haven’t thought about yet. In this piece, a focus on “memory,” the performers started with the age and then an important story of how they changed in that year. From the young age of five, the perspectives of each speaker’s monologue varied in what the performers were trying to teach people.

Another strong and beautifully delivered performance was when Salena Deane ’19 brought the audience into the world of someone who had been raped. While hard to listen to, the monologue was important to learn not only about the common experiences, but also the hard ones. Another hard truth to hear about was that people don’t completely understand their own vaginas and therefore their vaginas start to lose meaning. In a performance done by Emma Cyr ’20 and Lily Feinson ’19, the audience witnessed how hard living with a vagina can be for someone in a position of uncertainty and how not having all the answers about the vagina can be unsettling. In another twist closer to the end of the performance, Jessie Gedallovich ’20 spoke of things that even though we think, we don’t say; for example, why we wear thongs versus underwear designed out of cotton that is comfortable to wear. This broke down stigmas about vaginas and was a powerful dialogue about female genitalia in general. Gedallovich’s passionate performance really emphasized how society does not match up with what a vagina would want: Society would want the thong, while the vagina would want the cotton.

The show was topped off by a big finish performed by an extremely evocative Alina Shirley ’19, whose monologue took the audience on a rollercoaster ride through the adventures of a woman who found her true self. The entire Brandeis Vagina Club joined her onstage. This turned into a powerful message to everyone in the room, recapping the main points spoken about in the night. If you did not get the chance to see this powerful event, ask someone who did or try to see it next year. It was insightful, inspiring and imparted an important message to hear. Our world is always changing, and we think we are moving forward. This performance goes to show that we need to talk to each other to make true progress. Just by attending the show, alone, or now feeling comfortable talking about vaginas, we are pushing society forward.