The Vagina Monologues: my directing class final project

In 2023, I took a directing class in which the final project was to create a production plan for any contemporary play. I chose to tackle Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues.

I’m posting it here so that anyone can use this concept in their own directorial journey, in case I never get to do it myself.

Section 1.1: Short synopsis

“The Vagina Monologues” is a collection of monologues related to the experiences of women and girls, specifically about the injustices and shame around having a vagina.

What is the play about? In a word: vaginas. In many words: it’s about destigmatizing and calling to action for people with vaginas, especially now that so many rights for queer people and women are being debated on national and state scales.

Every monologue/scene/interlude discusses a different struggle or celebration that comes with being assigned female at birth (AFAB), oftentimes intermingled with talk of race, abuse, and how misogyny unifies AFAB people in practically every culture in the world. It’s a piece of political theatre, not necessarily a consistent story, but still rooted in truth and theatrical elements.

The message I ultimately want people to walk away with: “KEEP FIGHTING!”

Section 1.2: Brief history of the play’s productions/Critiques

After interviewing over 200 women in America, “The Vagina Monologues” was written and first produced Off-Off-Broadway by Eve Ensler. The first performance was on Oct. 3, 1996. In 2001, V-Day (the movement inspired by the play, which often includes a performance aspect) sold out at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Then, in 2004, an all-trans-woman cast put on the show, with Ensler’s support.

From its early days on into 2023, people have harshly criticized the play. Some feminists believe it’s too focused on equating specific anatomy to womanhood. A lot of people think it’s transphobic, as only cisgender women’s voices appear to be represented in the original text (which has since been updated in trans-inclusive additions to the “Monologues”). Globally received, the play has been called too westernized (which has also been remedied by additional monologues addressing women’s and reproductive rights around the world). Conservatives especially aren’t fond of the show, because they think it’s too vulgar/too lesbian/too sexually graphic, etc.

Finally, most people don’t like the “Coochi Snorcher” monologue, because it “glorifies the ‘right’ kind of rape.” This monologue is purposefully excluded in my vision because of the vehement pushback it has received, but also because I cannot justify its use nor put it up with enough tact and nuance to have the audience understand it. Perhaps it requires the right actor to say it, but it’s so controversial anyway that I’d rather not bother seeking out that perfect actor.

It’s incredibly evident that the work as a whole was written in the ‘90s, but Ensler has made extensive effort to include all voices in her added monologues as a response to these criticisms.

Section 1.3: Main characters

Note on language: I am choosing to call all cast members “actors”, not “actresses”, because I prefer the gender neutrality of “actor”. It’s possible that not every single member of the cast is guaranteed to identify as an actress; some of the cast members might be male or nonbinary/gender non-conforming.

The cast should be a minimum of 13 – one actor for each individual monologue (except one that requires two voices) and then Eve. More people can be added to create diversity of voices for the ensemble monologues, but it’s not necessary. Having too large of a cast will pull focus from the stories being told.

Eve: the interviewer/barista (will be explained in Section 3.1); not necessarily one specific woman, and not necessarily a woman; forced to confront internal biases as she/he/they move throughout the play; a conduit for the audience; Eve’s points of view should inform the audience’s points of view.

The audience: literally the audience watching the play; it is just as important that the audience is as affected by the story as the cast.

Section 2.1: The action of the play

The action of the play is disenfranchised, marginalized groups losing their politeness and demanding the rights they deserve.

Section 2.2: General scene breakdown

Green text = warming up the audience, nothing too extreme is being said yet.

Black text = things are getting more intense/harder to brush off. {This was originally yellow highlight.}

Orange text = reintroducing the audience to the world, yet more intense than Act I.

Red text = thesis-statement levels of intense – at this point, everyone (audience AND actors) should be fired up.

The emotion of the entire play is an uphill climb that finally peaks at “Over It” and receives a minor resolution during the final scene, “My Revolution Begins in the Body”.

Section 2.2.1: The breakdown

Act I, sc. 1) Preface [ensemble]

Act I, sc. 2) Vagina Fact #1: Witch Trial [Eve]

Act I, sc. 3) Hair

Act I, sc. 4) “If your vagina could talk…” [ensemble]

Act I, sc. 5) The Flood [requires Jewish actor]

Act I, sc. 6) I Was 12. My Mother Slapped Me. [ensemble]

Act I, sc. 7) Vagina Fact #2: “Medical Problems” [Eve]

Act I, sc. 8) Hey Miss Pat [requires Black actor]

Act I, sc. 9) Because He Liked to Look at It

Act I, sc. 10) Reclaiming Cunt

Act I, sc. 11) My Angry Vagina

INTERMISSION

Act II, sc. 1) “What does a vagina smell like?” [ensemble]

Act II, sc. 2) The Vagina Workshop

Act II, sc. 3) Vagina Fact #3: The Clitoris [Eve]

Act II, sc. 4) They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy… Or So They Tried [requires transfem actor]

Act II, sc. 5) The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy [requires bisexual actor]

Act II, sc. 6) I Was There in the Room

Act II, sc. 7) My Vagina Was My Village [two-person monologue]

Act II, sc. 8) Vagina Fact #4: Mutilation [Eve]

***Act II, sc. 9) Over It*** –> key scene [ensemble]

Act II, sc. 10) My Revolution Begins in the Body [ensemble]

Section 3.1: Overall physical look and feel

Ideally, I would set the play in [my college’s] Black Box and transform the space into a functional café, and the audience would sit at café tables alongside the actors. There would be free coffee and pastries for the patrons to make them feel comfortable (assuming I have a limitless budget).

Why a café? Because the environment of a café invites warmth and coziness and relaxation. But then, once the audience has settled in, all of those fuzzy feelings will be slowly but surely stripped away. I want the audience to feel completely surrounded by every story. They should feel like they’re overhearing something deeply private (because they ARE!). But ultimately, it’s in a café because that’s where interviews often take place, as well as its cultural association that coffeeshops are women’s and/or LGBTQ people’s spaces.

The coffee station itself acts almost as a confessional booth for the actors. It is where Eve works simultaneously as barista and interviewer, doling out sustenance in exchange for stories. It shouldn’t draw too much attention as a centerpiece of the set, but rather it should exist off to one side; or maybe it’s somewhere up on the balcony level of the Black Box, so the actors must climb stairs or ladders to earn the chance to speak, and therefore inaccessible to other patrons. (Though perhaps not, because then my casting pool is limited to only able-bodied actors.)

Section 3.1.1: Overall physical look and feel, continued

The set is warmly lit, with soft reds and pinks and browns, and the actors wear all white, except for Eve, who is dressed in all red.

Textures in the space should be utilitarian yet possibly indulgent, with a healthy dash of masculine energy: brick walls, wood-and-steel chairs and tables with a medium to dark varnish, glass, leather, crushed velvet, chalkboard menu grit, coffee grounds and brown sugar, wool sweaters and political pamphlets.

The textures are reflective of a world in which men and the patriarchy dominate and being soft or emotional is a detriment to your reputation. By adding in some of those more indulgent elements, though (brown sugar, velvet, etc.), it can be implied that there are changes being made to create equality and equity – we’re just not done yet.

Section 3.2: Soundscape

Very minimal sound design. Most (if not all) of the sounds should be diegetic: grinding coffee beans, steaming milk, scooting chairs in and out from tables, the like. It should sound naturalistic, but not forced. The audience should feel like they’re in a café, but not like they’re being told by theatre-makers that they are in a café. If coffeeshop music plays at all, it should play VERY softly. It can’t interrupt the voices of the actors. Their voices are the most important “sound” in the play.