Last week, the Vagina Monologues were put on in a pre-recorded format for students and faculty to enjoy. After being on hiatus for two years, the women of the Monologues were very excited to have a performance to show the Sonoma State community. The Vagina Monologues started out as small interviews about the vagina facilitated by student director V Ornelas. Eventually, the interviews grew from short-form questioning to longer discussions that became The Vagina Monologues. 

The Monologues were performed for students and faculty alike, although the space was mainly dominated by the Sonoma State student body. These monologues were created and performed to help inspire and strengthen women’s relationship with their vagina and to inspire more women to look at their vagina, as illustrated in the piece entitled “The Flood”, which was introduced virtually by Ornelas and performed via the pre-recorded video by student Shelby King. The piece was based on an interview with a 72-year-old woman who had never seen her vagina before, and, through the interview, was able to love and accept her vagina for what it truly was, something that can live and breathe along with herself and not something that was meant to be locked away and forgotten about.

The show was split up into two distinct parts with an intermission in between, and content warnings preceding every monologue. In the first half, twelve separate monologues were shown, recorded and performed by the cast. The cast were known as “performers” and “Backstage Babes” which were nicknames given to stage-hands for the Vagina Monologues. The start of the pre-screened show included a director’s speech, an intro, and video performances to further illustrate the vagina and the power it holds for women. 

The piece entitled “intro” started with members of the cast discussing different themes and experiences, like, “looking at your vagina is a full day’s work” and how, “…secretly, women loved talking about their vaginas…” The cast then went on to say different synonyms for vagina from around the world such as “cherry”, “lady garden”, and “love button”, to name a few. 

Another performance was called “They beat the girl out of my boy…or so they tried.” performed by third-year Hutchins major Bee Ucio who didn’t show their face as a way to, “…remind everyone that there is no way for a Trans person to look or present.” The piece was based on an individual’s experience in wanting to be a girl while simultaneously being beaten down by her peers as well as society in general. The story was violent at times, and held nothing back, but ended on a positive note with her receiving gender-affirming care and becoming the woman she always wanted to be. The story personified transgender violence and hilighted the struggle that closeted-transgender folks go through every day.  

After a quick guided stretch session based on body positivity during the intermission, the monologues were back in full swing. There were seven more pieces and an end credit segment. Some of the pieces included “Pussy Twister” written and performed by fourth-year Hutchins major Vivian Stegura who wrote the piece utilizing each letter of pussy. Like a tongue twister she moved through each letter, starting with, “P…If my pussy was a poet, she would write proposals and prophecies of freedom from the only purpose people probably think pussies have.” After a few other pieces, a performance entitled “Over It”, performed by Ornelas, Stegura, Ucio, and Liz Rodriguez closed out the show. 

“Over It” provided statistics on violence against women and sexual assault. It started with each member coming out and saying “I’m over rape,” and moving into statistics shouted by each woman, with Johnson saying, “I’m over the three out of four women who experience sexual harassement and can’t tell anyone for fear of losing their job or not being believed.” The more statistics in the video, the more real and full of weight the entire experience became. It really added a lot to the performance and brought it full circle on just how much suffering women go through on a daily basis.

After the final performance, the lights came up and Ornelas thanked everyone for their time and thanked the cast for their wonderful work in putting on and performing the Monologues. Outside, students were offered free stickers, info-cards, and lip balm, as well as the option to buy a t-shirt. All ticket and t-shirt sales went to Verity, Sonoma County’s only rape, crisis, and trauma healing center.