Access for Sex-Education, a student organization, will host “The Vagina Monologues,” which will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Student Union PlainsCapital Bank Theater on the Edinburg campus.
“The strong message behind ‘The Vagina Monologues’ is … saying enough is enough because of how rampant and how dangerous, and unfortunately common, sexual assault is,” said Cathryn Torres, a sociology senior and president of Access for Sex-Education. “The main message behind this is we are taking a stand against sexual assault, and embracing ourselves, our bodies, in our community to stand firm against sexual assault.”
Torres said the play consists of various monologues about vaginas.
“So, you have stories about an elderly woman’s vagina,” she said. “Just a night out with a guy, that type of stuff, and people talk about their periods, and they talk about why do we have to talk about vaginas.”
Torres said she hopes the play and the organization will break negative stigma. The play, which was written by Eve Ensler, is produced by around 20 people.
“It is really about talking about issues that affect women,” said Jennifer Saxton, who is the play’s director and an assistant professor for theatre.
Saxton said even though the play was written about 25 years ago, the play still receives a strong reaction. This year, some of the play’s lines were changed to react to the infringement of women’s rights that have occurred during the last year and a half.
“It is both a celebration of women and a call to action … that these are still problems,” she said. “Let’s work together to fix them.”
Tickets are $5 and will be sold at the box office, which is outside the theater, at 6 p.m. Thursday. Proceeds will be donated to Edinburg’s nonprofit Access Esperanza Clinics.
“This is something that women our age need to hear about. I feel that we should all be comfortable with our bodies,” said Felicia Rae, a theatre junior and cast member.
Rae said she is happy about the all-female cast.
“I feel, especially in society today, males always had the dominant roles,” she said.
Rae was not nervous to audition for her role.
“I was super excited,” she said. “I had already had a monologue prepared for [the audition], and I had been preparing for [an] entire week. … When I performed, it came off naturally.”
Rae said her role is of an everyday woman and how she “becomes more comfortable with her vagina by going to a vagina workshop.”
Rae’s character, who she named Claudia, has her life changed after the workshop.
“[The scene] sets the tone letting women know that it is OK to get out of your comfort zone and explore your parts of your body that people usually say should be kept behind scenes,” she said. “I love my character, and I am really excited to portray her.”
Rae said once everyone adapts to the word vagina, “everybody is actually going to listen and [understand] the story.”
For more information, email Torres at cathryn.torres01@utrgv.edu.
