Destination: Vagina Monologues

 

Above: Cassie Andrews, Christine Shea, and Courtney M. Askins in the intro.

Because you can never have enough vaginas in your life! The Vagina Monologues is known around the world as any number of things: an expression of a body part, a theatrical production, an opportunity to raise awareness on any number of issues, or a chance to hear a woman scream a four letter word I dare not repeat here. This particular production, brought to you by the people at vdayseoul.com, raised money for KUMFA (Korea Unwed Mothers and Families Association) and was presented in both Korean and English. A helpful Teleprompter-like screen enabled the reading of the language not being spoken – from what I was told, a good deal of effort went into the Korean translation to make it understandable by the 20%-25% of locals in the audience.

Shannon Hughes doing the intro for ‘Hair’.

Sujin Choi (최수진) performing ‘Hair’ – an interesting take on the hair ‘down there’.

Two of the five from the ‘Wear and Say lists’.

Cheonghwa Cha (차청화) performing the part of an old lady talking about ‘The Flood’.

Ada Smith and and Michelle Kozlowski discussing ‘The Vagina Workshop’.

Minjoo Kim (김민주) performing ‘Because He Liked to Look At It’.

Bre’Shae Pittman, the co-organizer of the event doing the intro to ‘Say it’, a monologue calling for the Japanese government to apologize over the treatment of ‘Comfort Women’.

During the intermission, a number of volunteers had a little bit of everything for sale – everything from t-shirts to vagina-shaped chocolates.

One half of the ‘My Angry Vagina’ – Taray Denkins and Krystal Nesbitt (not pictured) got one of the louder applauses on one of the more entertaining performances.

‘My Vagina Was My Village’ by Maria Gonzalez.

Derrika Hunt performing ‘The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could’ – seriously, who thought up this name?

"‘Reclaiming Cunt’ by Mitzi – performing the highlight piece of the night.

‘A six-year-old girl was asked’ by Eunkyung Lee (이은경) and Beth Conry (not pictured) – short and a bit random – what should a six-year-old say about her vagina anyway?

The closest thing to visual titillation in the play – Amber Green holds the whip and wears the leather; not pictured are Cassie Andrews, Krystal Stok, and Christine Shea doing some of the moaning.

On Myriam Merlet – the 2011 Spotlight Monologue, performed by Tracie Holmes.

As the show came to a close, organizer Kathryn Bokyung Park (박보경), and co-organizer Bre’Shae Pittman teared up a bit while asking those that have been sexually assaulted (or those who know someone who’s been assaulted) to stand.

This being my first Vagina Monologues experience, I couldn’t comment on the accuracy of the monologues. The theatrical production was spot on – no problems with microphones that I heard (being on the front row, however, means I heard the performers without amplification), great job with the Teleprompter-like screen translation, and a professional job with the lights.

 

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