Circle Players examine ‘The Vagina Monologues.’
By: Stuart Duncan
In 1996, The Vagina Monologues took off-Broadway by storm. It was the work of Eve Ensler, who also performed all the speeches, shifting characters as needed. The themes changed: sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, but always relating somehow to the vagina or the variety of alternative names.
The recurring theme of the vagina is a symbol of female empowerment. The piece was based on 200 interviews with women from all backgrounds and ways of life. After Ensler left the show, she was replaced by a trio of celebrity monologists. In 2003, Ensler added an additional monologue about women in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
The show has been on HBO and on many college campuses, often accompanied by a series of meetings about rape and violence and women "taking back the night." It is rare for a community group to venture into the area, but Circle Players of Piscataway has been searching for works that "are a bit edgy." The current production of The Vagina Monologues not only qualifies, it is dynamite!
Circle Director Jon Heron has opted to do the show with five actresses and, as importantly, all remain on stage for the 90-minute (no intermission) running time. This enables them to interact with each other (and the audience from time to time). It helps the evening in several ways: first, it allows the many funny lines of dialogue to float a little longer and therefore get better reception, and secondly, it has the tendency to make the individual monologues less episodic and choppy. Then too, the configuration of the Playhouse theater in the rectangle with no sight line more than a dozen or so feet from the acting area, makes for an intimacy that suits this particular production superbly.
The five actresses take over, gems all: Karen Root is the "old-timer" who never looks "down there"; Syndi Szabo insists hers is an "angry vagina"; Debbie Barr with her "little Coochie Snorcher"; Tracey Fama gets to appreciate her own body because she met a man who "liked to look at it"; and, finally, Cathy Zouves-Wrobel attended "a vagina workshop." They all are superb performers, all sharing with us the most personal of moods and feelings, laughing with us sometimes at our expense but always breaking down barriers.
Be warned there is no titillation here and no smut. Be warned also, you can expect full houses, packed in fact. Make plans early and be prepared for a waiting list. And, while you are at it, why not make plans to reserve seats for the other "edgy" shows the Players have ready: The Drawer Boy at the end of April, The Pillowman in September and King Lear after that.
The Vagina Monologues continues at Circle Playhouse 416 Victoria Ave., Piscataway, April 13-14, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $15, $14 seniors, $10 students. (732) 968-7555; www.circleplayers.com

