Almost a year in the making, As Told By Vaginas (ATBV) has been one of Connecticut College’s largest student-run efforts in recent memory. Since the beginning of the academic year, its production leadership has hosted information sessions, held fundraisers and attracted its fair share of controversy, all along the way to the first ever performances, which took place in Evans Hall on Saturday, Feb. 21.
Having sold out the 7 p.m. performance, and nearly doing the same with the 2 p.m. show, it accrued over $10,000 and counting in fundraising for Safe Futures—a New London shelter aimed at helping survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault. ATBV has had a significant impact on campus and the greater New London community in the short history of its existence. But how did it all happen?
Show co-producers, Bettina Weiss ’15 and Alix Israel ’15, explained how ATBV came into being after students decided to stop producing Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, which Conn had previously been associated with for 13 years.
“A lot of the women loved being in [The Vagina Monologues] for the community it built, but didn’t have strong ties to the content,” said Weiss.
Israel echoed that sentiment by saying, “When I did [The Vagina Monologues] sophomore year, the actual monologues were not the core of why I did it.” Instead, most students involved in the show felt connected to the community of women that came together to put on the performances.
Building the production up from nothing was no easy task. Though the performance took place in late February, ATBV leadership had begun work on the show from the first week back on campus last August. That work involved solidifying the idea for the show and figuring out how to spread the word about it. Through word of mouth and several information sessions, ATBV leadership sent out a call for monologue submissions—students were asked to submit their stories that reflected their personal experiences with womanhood in any dimension.
“We were worried,” said Israel. “A lot of us [leadership] thought, ‘Are we going to get monologue submissions? Are people going to try out for the show?’ The Vagina Monologues was such a commonly accepted thing at Conn, to make a change—we were terrified that it wasn’t going to catch on.”
It did catch on. 34 monologues were submitted for consideration before the November deadline and 81 women took part in putting the show together, including the 75 women who auditioned to be in the cast in the days after winter break.
Of course, the process of creating and solidifying ATBV in its first year has not come without its growing pains.
Certain members of the Conn community feel that the show’s title alone presents a narrow definition of what it means to be a woman and confines it to a single physical aspect, one in which some who identify as women cannot relate to and may not even have.
“I hate the name [As Told By Vaginas],” said Renna Gottlieb ’15, who was involved in The Vagina Monologues her sophomore year and was also a cast member in ATBV. “Feminism and gender and sexuality are such complex issues. Stripping them down to the biological entity of the vagina is not the point.”
In regard to the name, Weiss stressed how important it is to those involved in the cast to merely hear and say the word ‘vagina.’ “One of the biggest growing processes in The Vagina Monologues was actually saying the word. We wanted to retain that aspect of the show because of how empowering it is for the cast. We are not trying to narrow a women’s experience to biology. Instead we see the vagina as a starting point for the telling of experiences,” she said.
“Inclusion is a really difficult word, because not everything can include everyone,” Israel added. “There’s a difference between inclusion and exclusion. Although I know that not everyone may be included [in ATVB], we’re not excluding anyone.”
Both co-producers also stressed the undeniable importance of the show in terms of fundraising. When Conn produced The Vagina Monologues in the past, 90% of proceeds went to Safe Futures and 10% went to V-Day, Eve Ensler’s global initiative to end violence against women. This year, 100% of the proceeds are being given to Safe Futures, meaning everything raised goes directly back to the community. Additionally, some 70% of the ATBV cast went to Safe Futures to see and learn about the organization they were raising money for.
This added to the strong sense of community within the cast, but the content of ATBV—created by the women of Connecticut College—is what really united those involved.
“The community [was] the biggest drawing point to the production for me,” said Gottlieb. “It [was] much easier to draw a personal connection to the show this year—it more accurately represent[ed] me and my peers.”
Israel also noted the importance of the community created by ATBV: “It brings girls together with commonalities that they wouldn’t necessarily have connected over before.”
The community and bonding experience carried over to the actual performances, as most monologues were performed by a group of women, sometimes as many as seven. Monologues ranged from humorous—“Vagina and the Angry Itch” was about the unfortunate way one woman first discovered she was allergic to latex—to serious—“Dear James” and “Young Love/Yuong Levo” were powerful accounts of abusive relationships.
Some monologues landed in a middle ground of being funny while also impactful. “Being Lonely” and “Somewhere Between Johnson & Freeman” had moments of humor sprinkled in amongst powerful declarations of pride in womanhood and independence.
Overall, the show was sure to have an effect on audience members just as much as they did on those involved in bringing ATBV to the stage. For Weiss, the most powerful moment came before the performances, when all of the cast members gathered to dedicate their performances.
“There were quite a few women who dedicated the show to the anonymous voice of the monologues, and thanked that student for sharing her story,” said Weiss.
“The mission of the show to represent students through unique but unifying voices was realized in that moment. It was just so clear that everyone was on the same page and we were all there for the purpose of coming together and supporting each other and the voices of the monologues.”
Feedback from the community has been equally powerful. “It is a really amazing feeling to have peers approach me and thank me for helping to create the show because it changed their perspective,” Weiss said. “The impact that the show had on the audience was even more powerful than I anticipated.”
Moving forward, many are excited to see what the future holds for ATBV. Some, like Gottlieb, hope to see the production move forward in its goal to capture the thoughts of the campus and include a larger spectrum of voices on not just gender, but a more intersectional look at oppression across the campus community.
“The role of intersectionality [was] not really discussed at all,” said Gottlieb. “There are a lot of smart people here who can produce something that is more critical.”
As for Weiss, she hopes that this year’s first production of ATBV will inspire more women to speak up and share their stories. “I think that students who may not have thought their story was right for the show were empowered by hearing the stories of their peers and will be more inclined to submit monologues next year.” •
