'The Vagina Monologues' brings out more than 600 people Saturday
Emily Nuss said the most difficult part of performing in the “Vagina Monologues” was attempting to portray the emotion of a woman who had been sexually abused.
"I think we're all really exhausted. At times, it was a bit difficult, because some of the scenes were so emotional," the Lansing senior said. "I've never experienced the trauma of being sexually abused, so it was a bit difficult to portray that emotion."
More than 600 people attended the first two showings of "Vagina Monologues" in Moore Hall's Plachta Auditorium Saturday.
The productions made more than $1,000 in ticket sales. All of the proceeds will go to Women and Girls of Haiti, Voices for Planned Parenthood and Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates. The event, known as V-Day, was planned to raise awareness and help end violence against women and girls.
Some of the monologues presented included "Because He Liked to Look at it," "My Angry Vagina" and "My Vagina Was my Village." The play featured a combination of humor, facts of sexual abuse, the four letter word and even the story of a woman who has never looked at her vagina.
The spotlight monologue told the story of women affected by the natural disasters of Haiti and New Orleans and women who are sexually abused in the Congo.
"Vagina Monologues" was originally written by Eve Ensler who interviewed hundreds of women about experiences they've had with their vaginas, with the goal of giving women a voice to talk about things they've never talked about before.
"It sounded interesting, so I decided to come see what it's about," said Fenton sophomore Sean Rositano. "I'm a bit conservative, so some of it was really shocking, but I understood they had to be that way in order to get their point across."
Before the play, directors Jordan Wyer and Jolie Masters, both Kentwood seniors, thanked audience members for coming.
"It was amazing; they had so much energy," said St. Johns senior Libby Aldrich. "It's nice that they fed off the energy of the crowd. The more laughs they got, the more funny they became. They did really well considering they only had six practices"
