April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and appropriately, Conn students performed the annual Women’s Empowerment Initiative show on April 7. The show is composed of monologues written by female and non-binary students. During a time of social and political turmoil that is bringing difficult questions to the surface about gender inequality and sexual harassment and violence, the Women’s Empowerment Initiative presented “Like Thunder,” continuing an appropriate and meaningful tradition in the Conn community that is especially relevant now considering important movements such as #MeToo and TimesUp.
This year, over 160 students participated in the show, serving both as cast and crew members. Michelle Lee ’18, chair of the reading committee, explained that after students submit their pieces in the fall, the committee meets to select which monologues will be read. This year, she added, all of the submitted monologues will also be made available for students to purchase. Rather than voting on pieces, the committee discusses until they reach a consensus on which pieces to include. After the monologues are chosen, cast members audition and are assigned to a monologue. WE keeps its show open and accessible by ensuring that everyone who auditions gets cast in a piece, though the number of lines spoken varies depending on a person’s role. Chiara Gero ’18, artistic director and co-president of WE, explained that there are six directors, including her, who are each assigned to several monologues to oversee during rehearsals and give feedback to the performers abide by any wishes the author of the monologue and in this way respect the piece.
After months of preparation, rehearsals, and fundraising, the hard work of the members of WE paid off in the two performances on April 7. The show’s venue, Evans Hall in Cummings, was decorated with bright lights and paper lightning bolts—an homage to the title. All of the members came onto the stage dressed in black outfits of their choice with red accents here and there. While the twenty-one monologues performed varied in length and topic, they collectively impacted the audience. I enjoyed how some lines were read solely by one individual while others were read by multiple participants. In the first monologue, which was titled “Ain’t I a Woman,” directed by Gero, and addressed the intersection of race and gender and the erasure of Black womanhood, four Black female students repeated the phrase “Ain’t I a Woman” together, which made the monologue’s power resonate. “Finding my Pride,” directed by Margie Giacolone ’19 and Sarah Potter ’19, combined issues of race, sexuality, and homophobia into a single monologue. While topics including racism, gender identity, sexuality, sexual assault, were touched upon in the show, so were mental health, suicide, body image, and eating disorders. “Little Gray Monsters,” directed by Potter, describes the depression that often follows the narrator and the feelings which she often keeps bottled up inside. Performed in the second act, “Beast,” directed by Hayley Santaflorentina ’19, told the story of a girl struggling with body image and eating disorders.
Even though many monologues were serious, there were others that were uplifting and funny. My favorite monologue was “Just Girly Things” directed by Santaflorentina, which conveyed the hilarious story of the narrator waxing the hairs above her upper lip. Grace Neale ’21 enjoyed “Heart,” directed by Julia Horowitz ’18, which told the story of an individual who realizes that while no one may love her, she can fight to save the whales. Neale said that “as a science nerd, [she loved] the whale reference,” but found the other deeper sentiments of this piece relatable because it was written by a fellow student.
Not only is WE’s annual performance a form of entertainment, but it is also a means of personal expression and sharing. Lee states that the show “provides a platform for voices that are not always heard” and believes that WE allows students to “express [their] identity creatively,” similar to shows such as Eclipse and Color Brave Monologues on campus. Similarly, Gero believes that this year WE achieved their goal of moving beyond a concentration on “white-feminist” topics and instead incorporated a wide spectrum of identity topics. Gero and Moll Brown ’18, producer of WE, worked to build coalition among other affinity groups. In addition, co-chair of ideology Shaniqua Shaw ’18 and chair of outreach and co-chair of ideology, Sam Weisenthal ’18 organized a “Stride of Pride” this past Sunday with the goal of “build[ing] more solidarity amongst groups on campus that value social justice,” according to Shaw.
It seems that this year’s theme was intersectionality, marking a contrast from last year’s theme, which Hannah Johnston ’18, chair of fundraising and Safe Futures liaison, stated that “last year a quarter of the monologues in the show were about sexual assault.” Although sexual assault was discussed in this year’s performance, the monologues addressed a broader range of topics. Johnston appreciated this diversity because it adds “to the narrative that yes, [women and non binary students] experience violence, pain, and terrible things, but there are all these other things that we are thinking about and doing.”
The show not only provides a creative platform, but also one for friendship. A cast member of WE, Maggie Ruff ’20, explained that there is a buddy system in the club which allows students to support one another. Another cast member, Fiona Noonan ’21, also spoke highly of the buddy system, saying that it allowed her to meet students she would otherwise never have met. Both Ruff and Emily Suher ’21 emphasized how the expansive cast and crew is not only supportive, but also inspiring.
While WE is a popular and vital event for the Conn community, its impact goes well beyond the campus. Johnston explained that the club gives all the funds they raise to Safe Futures. Last year, WE’s donation reached roughly $10,000 and this year the club will be able to donate around $7,500 and perhaps more as fundraising efforts continue. Johnston and Brown both emphasized that WE is ultimately a fundraiser and, in this sense, a way for Conn students to become involved with the New London community.
In many ways, the Women’s Empowerment Initiative represents a liberal arts education: it combines varying subject matter and ways of thinking through creative expression into a culmination of one performance, while simultaneously questioning the impact of the show both within and outside campus. Ultimately, it reaches out to the audience to entertain them, but also to suggest a call of action for social change.
